FelliniesqueFelliniesque is a style of filmmaking where dreams and reality are perceived as one experience. This website is the home of felliniesque filmmaking. Fellini would start a movie project by doodling a cartoon sketch first. He began his career as a cartoonist, a young man drawing cartoons of the American GIs after the war. He made some of them mad because he would always exaggerate some feature of their face, usually with a big nose. So the portraits would come out somewhat surrealistic. That's what I love about Fellini movies. He looked behind the facade and revealed what made the individual tick. At one time or another, I've seen all of Fellini movies.
The movie that Fellini is best known for in America, La Dolce Vita, released in 1960, is a celebration of life and love. It stars Marcello Mastroianni, Anouk Aimee, of France, and Anita Ekberg, the Swedish sex bomb. It's highly entertaining. In Italian, "La Dolce Vita" means "the sweet life." But Fellini once explained that the phrase in Italian implies a bitter-sweet life. In English, it has come to mean the opposite, that is, simply, the sweet life, without the twist of irony that the expression carries in Italian. There is the scene with Anita Ekberg in the fountain in Rome. She wanders innocently in the water, forcing Marcello to come and rescue her. They're both socking wet ... but loving every moment of it. It's perhaps the most memorable scene in the movie. LA STRADA
LA STRADA is the movie that American audiences could identify with the most. Not only it uses two well-known American actors, it tells the story in simplistic terms. It is no wonder it won the Oscar for best picture of all Fellini movies. Fellini did not use big American stars again and he didn't work in America like Antonioni and Bertolucci. Fellini is just too Italian for American audiences. In a way I'm glad because he might not have made the great movies that he made. FELLINI'S 8½
Fellini began to feel guilty. Suddenly he came up with the idea for the story. He would make a movie about a director making a movie without a script. He came out of his office and went on the set. He asked Mastroianni to play the role of a director making a movie without a script. Mastroianni was used to it. Without batting an eye, he shrugged his shoulders and began to play the director. 8½ also won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
It stars Marcello Mastroianni, Anouk Aimee and Claudia Cardinale.
LE NOTTI DI CABIRIA (1957) is about night life and the world of prostitution. It's one of Fellini's
more sensual works. It portrays the world of a prostitute after the 2nd world
war in Italy. It stars Giulietta Masina as Cabiria. AMARCORD
The movie depicts life in Rome during the Mussolini years. It is
semi-biographical and very visual. The young hero of the movie explorers a
brothel and a music hall. Some incredible scenes of Rome are part of this
movie's grand appeal.
FELLINI SATYRICON Fellini's Satyricon was a feast of images and scenes from ancient Rome. It was an exploration of the decadent life of the flesh. Yet it was done with such masterful flair, that it remains one of Fellini's most memorable movies. The movie came out in 1969, and it caused a lot of stir, mostly because of its outrageous portrayal of homosexuality. It was over-the-top, to be sure; but if you were a Fellini fan, then you knew how to take it. I was a film student at San Francisco State film department, so this was nothing unusual as a movie. Oh, how times have changed. |
![[Federico Fellini directing]](federico-fellini.GIF)
Federico Fellini is the great Italian director who defined the art of filmmaking. In one of his biographies, Federico Fellini said, "In the beginning I emphasized plot more. I adhered to story and was more literary than cinematic. Later, I placed more faith in images. I found my films related to painting, discovering for myself that light rather than dialogue reveals a character's state of mind, as well as the director's style." The Creative Urge
The RED QUEEN is a very unique feature film. It is the story of a group of rockers, fire dancers and actors -- all players in a magical game. It is a journey through uncharted territory, of dreams and reality. The settings are unpredictable and the implications are surprising. The movie is based on Dona Rose's avant garde screenplay. The camerawork, directing and editing is done by one filmmaker behind the camera. The music and songs are supplied by Myspace bands, friends of the filmmaker. This is my most felliniesque movie. The RED QUEEN is a very creative rock-n-roll musical. It is a surreal vision of the American underground, surfacing in style, song and dance. It is shocking, provocative and weirdly beautiful. This is a must have DVD for the Evolutionary Theorists out there -- way out there -- and true rock-n-rollers. Click here to visit the RED QUEEN, felliniesque players page. The RED QUEEN concept has been used in the new Johnny Depp movie Alice in Wonderland. Click on the link above and check it out. The RED QUEEN was invited to the Ava Gardner Indie Film Festival in Smithfield, North Carolina! It had its world premiere on November 20th, 2009. The Ava Gardner Film Festival is held in Smithfield, North Carolina every year. Ava Gardner, the great Hollywood movie star, was born in North Carolina. The Ava Gardner Museum is dedicated to her.
Bob Fosse's ALL THAT JAZZ is one of the most felliniesque movies you will ever see. Fellini's 8 & 1/2 is Fellini's most felliniesque movie. |
LA DOLCE VITA
This
movie stars Anthony Quinn, Richard Basehart and Giulietta Masina. It is about
a touring circus act. Heart warming and touching tragicomedy, the movie won
the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film in 1956. It's the story of a callous
performer who exploits an innocent girl's talent and charm in the difficult
years after the war. The movie is the most straight forward of all Fellini
movies. There is not much symbolism as in his other films.
This
is Fellini's quintessential felliniesque movie. It is about a director, played
by Marcello Mastroianni, who finds himself without a script on the day of
production start. The movie is literally Fellini making a movie without a
script. Mastroianni who once complained that he had given up reading Fellini's
scripts, "What's the use of the script, you always change everything and
tell me to say something different."
On
the first day of production, Fellini went to the studio and locked himself in
the office. His producer at Cinecitta kept knocking on the door for Fellini to
let him in. Fellini reflected in his memoirs that he was in despair. Finally
the producer said, "All these people are here to work and you don't want
to go down and allow them to make a living!"
NIGHTS
OF CABIRIA
Fellini's
AMARCORD (I Remember) came out in 1974. It won both the Golden Globe Award and
the Oscar for Best Foreign Film. Fellini's Amarcord is an impressionistic
movie about Rimini. The setting is a seaside village during the Mussolini fascist
era. Fellini drew on his personal experiences to tell the story of a young boy
on becoming a man.
This
movie came out in 1972. It is similar in vein to previous movie. It's Fellini
remembering his youth. It is a celebration of Rome in the grandiloquent style
of Federico Fellini.
![[Ava Gardner Film Festival]](http://www.felliniesque.com/ava_gardner_festival_217.jpg)