CULTFILMS PRESENTS: FEDERICO FELLINI'S 'I VITELLONI.' (1953) REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS.

FELLINI'S ORCHESTRA REHEARSAL. (1978) REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS.

CULT FILMS PRESENTS: BOCCACCIO '70 and UMBERTO D. REVIEWS BY SANDRA HARRIS.

Blu-ray Review - Felini's Casanova (1976)

Blu-ray Review - Rosselini: The War Trilogy

Genre:
War, Drama
Distributor:
BFI
BD Release Date:
6th April 2015
Rating:15
Director:
Roberto Rossellini
Cast:
Anna Magnani, Federico Fellini, Aldo Fabrizi, Carmela Sazio, Gar Moore, Edmund Moeschke, Ernst Pittschau, Ingetraud Hinze
Buy: Rossellini: The War Trilogy - [Blu-ray]
Wes Anderson once said, “There are only two kinds of filmmakers, Rossellini's and Fellinis"  and Wes is certainly of the Fellini kind. Rossellini is most associated with the Italian neorealism of the 40s and 50s (Fellini made a few but he had a different calling) which incorporated humanist stories about working class people for the most part. BFI has compiled a new Blu-Ray boxset of his most celebrated War Trilogy that consists of Rome, Open City, Paisan, and Germany Year Zero and also thrown in is L’Amour.

Rome, Open City was not the first neorealist film but was certainly the first one to be widely seen across the globe. It was made directly after the liberation of Rome from the fascists and it’s a startling achievement. The whole film is a snapshot of the struggles the resistance against the Nazis faced, in the horrid conditions they lived in. Fellini, along with Sergio Amidei, wrote the script and they declared the film to be “the history of the Roman people under Nazi occupation”. Originally Rossellini wanted to make a documentary but Fellini convinced him otherwise.

It still packs a punch 70 years later; it’s brutal at times. The interrogation scenes in the last 20 minutes are insanely grim at moments. The film has an extremely cynical take on everything, which considering everything that transpired before they made it, is understandable - the film ends with an execution after all. The film is a bitter and angry piece of political cinema, which really needs to be seen even if it’s simplistic, because the Italians are portrayed as “the good guys” and the Germans as “the bad guys”, and we know they were really allies. It also won the most prestigious award in film, The Palme D’Or.

The weakest of the 3 films in the War Trilogy is by far Paisan. It’s an anthology film of 6 individual stories about the war and I’ve never been a fan of anthology films or short films in general, with obviously some exceptions. All of the stories are around 20 minutes long (the film is a little over 2 hours) and none of them really have the time to truly develop their characters, so you quickly lose interest with some of the stories. It’s still a good film and is considered by many as Rossellini’s crowning achievement, but it simply didn’t work for me at times.

Germany Year Zero, for my money, is the masterpiece of the three (even though Rome, Open City comes very close) and sadly seems to be neglected in favourite of the other two films. One of my favourite sub-genres are films about childhood during wartime, and this fits perfectly into that. Unlike the other two films, it’s set in a post-war Germany and it’s about a 13 year old boy, Edmund Kohler, who has to try to make ends meet doing small jobs to help his family survive.

When Germany Year Zero came out critics in Italy and Germany despised the film, it used studios and near-projection which in the so-called rules of neorealism was sacrilege. It’s pessimistic to it’s core, the Germany Rossellini portrays is devastatingly damaged, corruption runs rampant. Edmund gets involved with former schoolteacher Herr Henning, and it’s implied he is a paedophile and still a local Nazi who is only letting him sell stuff to help his family for sexual favours. The French critic Andre Bazin also disliked the film, but Charles Chaplin (a man often misunderstood in his time) called it "the most beautiful Italian film".

It is one of the finest films I’ve ever seen on the loss of innocence, it’s up there with such masterpieces as Come and See and Empire of the Sun. It has one of the most shocking endings of any film and paves the way for the French New Wave and especially Truffaut’s The 400 Blows. It still seems to be a divisive film for fans of Italian neorealism, but along with Bicycle Thieves is the best to come out of the movement.

The final film included is not a war film but a film he made at the same time as Germany Year Zero called L’Amour. It’s an anthology film that consists of 2 short films around 40 minutes each. The first one is a one-act play by Jean Cocteau, which is about a woman trying to salvage a relationship over the phone. It’s extremely claustrophobic and stagey, but has a powerhouse performance by Rossellini’s frequent muse and lover Anna Magnani who also appears in the other segment.

The second segment takes a more allegorical turn. The young Federico Fellini makes a rare appearance in front of screen as Saint Joseph who impregnates a crazy peasant (Anna Magnani) who he believes to be the Virgin Mary. It’s a fascinating short at the time and was condemned by “The National Legion of Decency” as being Anti-Catholic but it’s anything but.

BFI has compiled a package that is very impressive, as you would expect from them. Germany Year Zero is a total masterpiece and really needs to be seen to be believed, and despite some reservations, the other films are very good as well. The discs include a documentary on Rome, Open City and a visual essay on the trilogy by Tag Gallagher. The boxset includes a booklet with essays by Jonathan Rosenbaum, Gallagher and more.

Rome, Open City★★★★1/2
Paisan ★★★1/2
Germany Year Zero ★★★★★
L'Amore ★★★1/2

Ian Schultz

Blu-ray Review - I Clowns (1970, Masters Of Cinema Release)

Send In The Clowns As Fellini's I Clowns The Masters of Cinema Series Release

Eureka! Entertainment have announced the release of I CLOWNS [The Clowns], the first ever UK Blu-ray release of Fellini's masterpiece which has been out of circulation for years. The film has long been regarded by Fellini enthusiasts and cinephiles as one of the director's greatest films. The release includes a lengthy essay-film by the greatest Italian critic, Adriano Aprà, and will be released in a Dual Format (Blu-ray & DVD) edition as part of Eureka’s award-winning The Masters of Cinema Series on 20 October 2014.

One of the Fellini films which has been out of circulation for many years, I clowns [The Clowns] has long been revered by Fellini enthusiasts for the several decades since its release as among the Maestro's finest works — a thrilling spectacle, once seen for the first time, — and a picture which after multiple viewings easily takes its place alongside such classics as La strada, Le notti di Cabiria, La dolce vita, Satyricon, Amarcord... but in a register all its own.

I clowns plays out in dazzling colour and in episodic cascade, just as in all of Fellini's late-60s-and-beyond films. As the circus rolls into town, and the big-tent gets erected, the clowns execute their acts with feverish can-you-believe-it bravado. It's all true — and yet not a "documentary" per se; rather, something in-between a dramatic-comedic portrayal of gags-at-play and the memoria of all that makes the spark for childhood inspiration to ignite into creative virtuosity... and/or into something like Federico Fellini.

A great and under acknowledged treasure of the cinema, I clowns takes its place alongside such films as Bergman's Carnies' Twilight, Ophuls's Lola Montès, Étaix's Yoyo, Jerry Lewis's The Day the Clown Cried, and Tati's Parade as one of the grand portraits of the clowning circus, of a bygone era of the wandering entertainer. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Federico Fellini's I clowns in a special Dual Format (Blu-ray + DVD) edition for the first time in the UK.

Watch this rare clip of I Clowns


SPECIAL FEATURES including:

• New high-definition 1080p presentation of feature on the Blu-ray, and in a progressive encode on the DVD
• New and improved English subtitles
• Fellini's Circus — an essay-film about the picture by the great Italian critic and scholar Adriano Aprà
• A 36-PAGE BOOKLET featuring new writing about the film, rare archival imagery, and more!

Hopefully nearer the release we will hope to review I Clowns and the date of Fellini's masterpiece will be 20th October 2014 released on Dual format. You can pre-order/Order your copy of I Clowns (The Clowns) [Masters of Cinema] Dual Format (Blu-ray & DVD) (1970)

Masters Of Cinema Blu-ray Review - Roma (1972)

Genre:
Comedy, Drama, World Cinema
Distributor:
Eureka! Entertainment
BD Release Date:
24th February 2014 (UK)
Rating:15
Director:
Federico Fellini
Cast:
Britta Barnes, Peter Gonzales Falcon, Fiona Florence
buy: ROMA (Masters of Cinema) (Blu-ray)
Roma is one of Fellini’s most ambitious films but also one of his most narratively lacking, which at times can be extremely frustrating. It was released the year before the similar but more narrative led Amarcord, which is considered among his finest and rightfully so. Both films however deal with the rise of fascism in Italy during the 30s and both present a snapshot of the place it’s set.

Roma is a fragmented and at times surrealistic look at the city of Rome. Half of the narrative deals with young Fellini arriving in Rome during the Mussolini years. The other half is set during present day, which concerns Fellini (played by himself) making a film about the city of Rome. This is not untypical of Fellini’s films especially 8 ½, which is one of the great examples of film being an imitation of the director’s life.

The film’s lack of narrative can be confusing at times which can become irritating, but Fellini is one of those director’s whose images are so hypnotic that it somehow works. Fellini is also one of the most compassionate directors and he loves every character in his films greatly, no matter the social circumstances of them. Fellini’s films are often called grotesque but I’ve always found they just reflected his reality. It’s always worth noting Fellini was a cartoonist and that shaped how he saw the world, not unlike his obvious successor Terry Gilliam.

It’s Fellini in his most indulgent but even that is much better than most other people’s films, and it’s a fun satirical romp though Rome. The comparison between the Catholic fashion show and the brothel is one of Fellini’s finest moments in a career of many. The disc boosts a great transfer and an interview with Chris Wagstaff (lecturer in Italian cinema) along with roughly 20 minutes of deleted scenes and Italian and international trailers.

★★★★☆

Ian Schultz

Blu-Ray Review - Il Bidone (1955)

Genre:
Comedy, World Cinema, Drama
Distributor:
Eureka! Entertainment
Rating:
12
BD Release Date:
30th December 2013(UK)
Director:
Federico Fellini
Cast:
Broderick Crawford, Richard Basehart, Giulietta Masina
Buy: Il Bidone [Masters of Cinema] Dual Format [Blu-ray & DVD]

Il Bidone is one of Fellini’s early films and came out after the worldwide success of La Strada. It was a big flop in the film’s native Italy and abroad. It was made when Fellini for all purposes was still working in the school of Italian neo-realism. Fellini from the 60s onwards would be known for surrealist satires, which I prefer.

Il Bidone is about a group of small time swindlers (the title translated is The Swindlers) called Augusto (Broderick Crawford), Picasso (Richard Basehart), and Roberto (Franco Fabrizi) who prey on poor farmers and slum dwellers. The role of Augusto was originally intended for Humphey Bogart, which would have been interesting. Fellini always a mischievous director in the opening scene dresses up his swindlers as Catholic priest. They trick some poor farmers out of their money by in exchange for some bogus buried treasure.

The film has a great set piece in which the conmen pretend to be city officials. They go to a slum and pretend to be city officials and scam everyone by saying they will give them a council house if they put down a deposit. It’s perfect shows the lengths that the 3 conmen will go to get a quick buck.

The film isn’t Fellini at his finest see his masterful 8 ½ but it’s a interesting slice of neo-realism which a slight film noir edge. It was criticised by some for just being a crime film but it’s a scathing attack on the greed. It’s worth checking out and as usual Masters of Cinema has done a very nice package.

★★★★☆

Ian Schultz

Fellini's Landmark Roma Getting Master Of Cinema Blu-Ray Release This February

Eureka! Entertainment have announced the home video release of Roma, one of the most famous international hits by Federico Fellini, the most popular Italian director of all time (the director La strada, 8-1/2, Satyricon, and much more). Roma is a landmark film in the history of '70s art-film, and one of Fellini's best known-films to this day. Released on Blu-ray as part of Eureka! Entertainment's award-winning The Masters of Cinema Series on 17 February 2014.

One of the maestro Federico Fellini's greatest '70s works (between Satyricon and The Clowns and Amarcord), Roma [Rome] erupts volcanically as a state-of-the-world pronouncement on what was not only happening within Rome at the tide of the hippies' organic birth and the post-Boom-set that made up his characters of the 1960s films, but also where, and how, his city would move feverishly forward into one of potential futures.

As Fellini himself travels with his crew to document the ring-road circling Rome, with all the natural diversions that might inherently divert a traditional film shoot, we move into episodes that chart the wartime difficulties of Roman life across those fleeting times that chronicle love and life within the modern-day Rome-time, themselves pitted against the archaelogical vestiges of the great city, — and the Catholic church rears its dominance, and we come into a midpoint that positions itself, indeed, between the memory-cinema of Satyricon and Amarcord.

One of the great and bountiful colour-spectacles of Fellini's cinema, almost leapt off toward from the moment of Giulietta of the Spirits, Fellini's Roma remains a passionate testament both to the city that finally claimed him as its son after he left small Rimini, and to the final stage of cinema that he himself would work till the day he died. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Fellini's Roma in a Blu-ray edition for the first time in the UK.



SPECIAL FEATURES

• Gorgeous restored 1080p HD transfer of the film
• Outtakes from the film
• More to be announced closer to the release date
• 36-PAGE BOOKLET featuring the words of Fellini, and more!

We will be reviewing Fellini's Roma nearer the time and time will be 17th Febraury 2014.