FEDERICO FELLINI
(1920 – 1993), Italian



FILMOGRAPHY
1950 Variety Lights (Luci del varietà)
1952 The White Sheik (Lo sceicco bianco)
1953 I vitelloni
1953 L'amore in città (segment Un'agenzia matrimoniale)
1954 La strada
1955 Il bidone
1957 Nights of Cabiria (Le notti di Cabiria)
1960 La dolce vita
1962 Boccaccio '70
1963 8 1/2
1965 Juliet of the Spirits (Giulietta degli spiriti)
1968 Histoires extraordinaires (segment Toby Dammit)
1969 Satyricon
1970 I clowns
1972 Roma
1973 Amarcord
1976 Fellini's Casanova (Il Casanova di Federico Fellini)
1978 Prova d'orchestra
1980 La città delle donne
1983 And The Ship Sails On (E la nave va)
1986 Ginger and Fred
1987 Intervista
1990 La voce della luna

Recommended First Watch: Amarcord

this one would be tough, cuz he could just end up having hella reds. I think 8 1/2 and la dolce vita should be red for sure, but then when you consider la strada, cabiria and amarcord, in some circles they can be red as well. idkbijdk

Updated for now. Couldn't find a picture I liked better, and all the quotes TSPDT provide seem needlessly critical to me, so I'll look for some good ones later.

Is it better to start with 8 1/2 or La Dolce Vita?

I always advise people to start with La Strada or Nights of Cabiria over either of those.

It pains me to italicize 8 1/2 and La Dolce Vita over them, but the acclaim and popularity just isn't there.

The ones I mention are a much better introduction to what Fellini is all about. The two biggies can be pretty alienating.

Fuck it, I'm italicizing La Strada.

well for your first fellini, neither, start off with la strada or cabiria. Or you could go amarcord which kind of is a blend of his 60's style and his classic style.

but if you're just choosing between the two, definitely 8 1/2 as it tends to be more visually engaging despite still being detached for beginners.

Amarcord for first watch. Idk why that's not what I recommended to Led--seems like common sense now.

Yeah Amarcord is definitely the best choice for first viewing. I watched 8 1/2 first and although its one of my favorite movies, it took me a few viewings for it to really grow on me.

I am not sure if Variety Lights should be bolded. I don't think the praise it has gotten has been very high. I would bold And the Ship Sails On instead.

So has anyone here seen Juliet of the Spirits? I think its very underrated. I personally like it about as much as 8 1/2, Amarcord, Nights of Cabiria, La Strada, and La Dolce Vita.

You're right about Variety Lights and The Ship Sails On. Idk why I did that.

I have seen Juliet of the Spirits and like it quite a bit. For me it's probably:

1. Amarcord
2. Nights of Cabiria
3. La Strada
4. Juliet of the Spirits
5. 8 1/2
6. Satyricon
7. La Dolce Vita
8. Roma

If you like Juliet of the Spirits you should definitely seek out Woody Allen's Alice if you haven't already.

Juliet is actually in like my top 5 of his. Definitely his best use of color in his filmography

yeah La Strada was the first one of his movies I saw. La Dolce Vita would have been very tough for me as a first watch. Haven't watched Amarcord nor Nights of Cabria, I need to change that.

Amarcord is an excellent movie, the rest I could do without.

My first Fellini was 8½, which I watched sometime in high school and wasn't blown away by and probably didn't really get. Over the last month or so, though, I've watched La Strada and Nights of Cabiria and I must say I've been struck by how human these films are. Fellini really seems to care about the characters in these films, to appreciate them as human beings. And not just the protagonists of the films, who obviously undergo a lot of hardships and who we automatically feel sorry for - he's also got sympathy for Zampano and others who mistreat them. Neither film really blew me away with its craft. They're not really stunning works of art, but they're nice, well-made, deeply human stories that I'm glad I watched. Which all came as a surprise after the coldness of (what I remember of) 8½.

it's a movie "about" vacuous relationships, vacuous existence, and general anomie... if you had trouble relating to it, i'd say that's probably a good thing... i'll say to you what i usually say to people - forget everything else, for now, and watch "amarcord".

Are the relationships "vacuous" in the end though? While they do involve a lot of meaningless interaction (as we often witness), I feel as if Guido comes to appreciate them as a valuable aspect of his life by the final stages of the film.