In a movie review, the writer described a film as “Felliniesque”. No reference to the director, for whom the term was coined, just – “Felliniesque”. I understood.
Federico Fellini, 1924 – 1976, was one of the most influential Italian directors of his day. His films were character driven, people and plots sometimes bizarre and outrageous, but the inhabitants of his pictures were closer to the reality of the everyday world than what was usually seen on screen during the 50s and 60s.
Four of his films won the Best Foreign Film Oscar: La strada (1954), with his wife Guilietta Masina and Anthony Quinn, Le Notti di Cabiria (1957) (Nights of Cabiria), 8½ (1963) and Amarcord (1973).
But, his film La Dolce Vita (1960) with Marcello Mastroianni brought him worldwide fame. The famous/infamous frolic in the fountain scene with Marcello and Anita Ekberg seemed such wild decadence in the 60’s, but, pretty tame now.
BTW: “Felliniesque” is often used to describe films that put a character’s inner thoughts and/or memories into dreamlike sequences, and/or scenes that move backward/forward in time.
Films to find on DVD:
- I Vitelloni (1953)
- La strada (1954)
- Le Notti di Cabiria (1957) (Nights of Cabiria) Oscar (best foreign language film)
- La dolce vita (1960)
- Boccaccio ’70 (1962)
- 8½ (1963)
- Giulietta degli Spiriti (1965) (Juliette of the Spirits)
- Satyricon (1969)
- Roma (1972)
- Amarcord (1973)
- Ginger and Fred (1986)
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