Review of La Dolce Vita (1960) by Shane S — 17 Apr 2011

Simultaneously disturbing, humorous, and cynical in its unadulterated look at the perversion and complete mockery the modern world had become in the late 1950s, Federico Fellini's epic satire "La Dolce Vita" proves to be not only one of the most influential Neorealist art films out there, but also serves as a sort of bridge to the strapped insanity of what I consider to be his masterpiece, "8 1/2." Through the eyes of passionless and directionless journalist Marcello (Marcello Mastroianni, who is slowly becoming one of my favorite actors), we the viewers learn that not only is he practically one of the most flawed and guilt-ridden characters in cinema, but that the sweet life really isn't so sweet at all.

And how we want to portray it as idealistic as the photojournalists do, walking around. However, we see another element to them - they do not value privacy whatsoever. Much like Carl Denham and his Herostratic search in "King Kong" and Kenny Frasier's supposed scream against hypocrisy in "Nashville," Marcello and his photographers are always trying to make something less realistic than what it is. Not only do they disturb a family who's just trying to get over the shock of a fake miracle, they practically alter the situation so that people would get more amazed at what these kids have done. And the kids have so much fun duping everybody - shows that we have all turned into mindless drones in Rome. Just aimlessly wandering in the world. Just aimlessly wandering. Well, that and how Americana has sort of bastardized the world. Just watching some of the scenes in this film remind me of a Simpsons joke concerning novelty restaurants (Americatown in Japan). The world desperately wanted to copy us - now they want to disown us.

I think I'd recommend this film for ages 15 and up. There isn't any nudity or coarse language, but this film is pretty much three hours long. And besides, younger audiences wouldn't get it as easily.

But who cares about what that film communicates? This film has Adriano Celentano (as some rock-and-roll rebel singer who guest stars in Anita Eckberg's sequence) and Nico from the Factory (one of the craziest characters in the film). And practically a third of the dialogue in this film is in English. That should be enough motivation for you to watch it.

Then again, I like those sort of nuances in Fellini films.