Review of La Dolce Vita (1960) by Natalie M — 17 Aug 2011

"La Dolce Vita" was something I was not expecting to like-- it's foreign and is almost three hours in length. I can watch foreign movies that are an hour and a half, and epics in America, well at least that's what I thought.

This movie was absolutely stunning. Director Federico Fellini does a fantastic job here, and gives this such a realistic feel to it it almost feels like a documentary. If you like entertaining films, this is not for you.

But if you like artistic, well-acted, realistic, expressionistic, modern, ahead of its time movies, this one is really for you. I was not surprised at the failure this movie got back when it was released.

This movie was considered scandalous at the time, dealing with sex (though not explicitly), homosexuality (but not overdone), foul-language (tame cause its in Italian), and infidelity (more racy than usual).

In fact, it was considered so bad, that it was not released into the public until 1981, and there on it has been hailed as a classic. Marcello Mastroianni is a brilliant Italian actor, and I was very surprised at how much he is underrated today.

Though many actors have pulled off the downward spiral type in the past, never have I seen somebody do it so realistically. His character goes from woman to woman, and even when one of them loves him, that's not enough, and he keeps going, losing his friends and lovers along the way.

He does a memorable job and this movie is worth seeing him alone. The best woman out of the bunch here is Anita Ekberg (who most seem to agree upon), and this is the movie that gave her cult-status among movie go-ers.

Though her role is very short considering how long the movie is, it's not easy to forget-- she's a fantastic actress, as well as being fun to look at, ranking up with other exotic one-hit wonders like Louise Brooks or Capucine.

Wow. "La Dolce Vita" is an exceptional movie, a must-see for anyone.