Review of La Dolce Vita (1960) by Jose P — 16 Apr 2008
What a disappointment. I had such high hopes for this film. And really, the first 15 minutes or so are simply stunning. Unfortunately, the film quickly becomes a convoluted mess that goes on and on for three hours with no emotional arc to the story whatsoever.
Sure, Chaplin's films were just as fragmented as "La Dolce Vita" but at least the man knew that you need an overarching plot so that the audience doesn't get bored from simply watching various the various exploits that have almost nothing to do with one another.
Some of them are brilliant: the whole sequence with Anita Ekberg and the scene involving the kids who claim to have seen holy Mary, but in general the film tries to be charming and comes off as flat. I spent the last hour just wishing it to be over, but it just goes on and on and on and on and gets progressively less interesting.
Which is a shame seeing as how the composition is really quite good as is Marcello Mastroianni's performance. His demeanor in that last was absolutely fantastic. Still, given the film is three hours long and frankly boring for much of that time, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone except die-hard film fans that just have to see every Fellini film that was ever made.
This review of La Dolce Vita (1960) was written by Jose P on 16 Apr 2008.
La Dolce Vita has generally received very positive reviews.
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