Review of Nights of Cabiria (1957) by Roger T — 02 Jul 2011

Federico Fellini has the sky falling in "Nights of Cabiria", around the dreams of a singular woman with threats to drown. It's also a weird tale of caution, parts seductive and elusive, Fellini often blurring the line. Albeit, there's one drawn, and "Nights" checks out both sides with equal promise and specificity. There's all the allure and lush glamour you've come to expect, with the tops of a brilliant mind in a would-be sudsy world. And here's Wanda Cabiria, smoke where there's flames by the superb Giuliette Masina, a hooker played as theoretical, fighting for the right to own her shame.

Of course, it doesn't come easy when even God's against you. Cabiria has eyes on a settled life, one she recreates with faux dates and friendships with that of fellow escorts, mainly a worn chick sketched by a great Franca Marzi. The dynamics are set to tumble. "Nights of Cabiria" might be Fellini's picture through and through -- it's the characters making his money, and who steal the show. They die trying to erase memories of their present when it isn't breathing down their necks, and something always is.

Fellini late in the game pulls from his book of tricks one of the oldest and well-traversed, a steamy magic that teaches the craft of spontaneity to climb past in order to take back your life. There's always down time on Cabiria's fast track, up to her to exploit. It's the clock once again that wheezes in the darkness of Fellini's boogie nights, and who, like a gifted mistress, steps over the bar when it's low.