Review of Juliet of the Spirits (1965) by Bobby B — 12 Aug 2009
Juliet of the Spirits is, like nearly all of Fellini's movies, very hard to pin down and gloriously unpredictable. It's funny and light one moment, sad and somber the next, and even crosses the line into horror with a few unsettling, creepy scenes near the end. All this is told Fellini style, with reality and dreams wildly mixing together in the most surreal ways. Add on top of that the extremely bold, excessive use of color and the brilliant Nina Rota score, and you have one crazy madhouse of a film. Juliet of the Spirits is not as thought-provoking or deep as 8 1/2 (though it does have considerable depth), but in terms of pure hypnotic weirdness, this one is gold. And, of course, Giulietta Masina is wonderful as always. Her Juliet hardly ever speaks, but she doesn't need to - Giulietta can tell her whole story with her beautifully expressive face. Masina anchors this ingeniously off-the-wall film, and gives it its heart.
My list of Fellini movies:
1. 8 1/2 - 9.5.
2. Amarcord - 9.5.
3. La Strada - 9.
4. Juliet of the Spirits - 9.
5. La Dolce Vita - 8.5.
6. I Vitelloni - 8.
This review of Juliet of the Spirits (1965) was written by Bobby B on 12 Aug 2009.
Juliet of the Spirits has generally received very positive reviews.
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