8½

"The truth is: I do not know... I seek... I have not yet found. Only with this in mind can I feel alive and look at you without shame"

I watched this a while ago, I was left quite confused and frustrated with the film, but giving it time, thinking back on it I began to really like it, so I decided to watch it again. It was a much better experience the second time round.

Title: 8½
Year of Release: 1963
Director: Federico Fillini
Genre: Drama
Rating: 10/10

This film is about a man called Guido who is a successful Italian film director, he has began working on a new film, he has lined up some people to star in the film, he has a Producer who is constantly pressuring him to begin filming, after stressfully working on a script it is constantly criticized by a man he asks to critique it. Guido is having a lot of trouble on trying to finally make up his mind on what exactly he is doing, no one even knowns what part they are auditioning about and no one really knows what the film is about, but it has a Spaceship in it.

The film achieves a lot, one example I felt was the fact you feel confused and overwhelmed much like Guido feels in the film. Constantly he is pressured, poked and prodded to hurry up and tell each person their part, and what exactly the film is about. Especially the Producer who was perfect, he had the whole look down, from the moment you see him, this old fat man with a young women at his side, you instantly think "asshole". I'm sure even if you didn't like this film, I'm sure you would of felt or at least realised how incredibly overwhelmed and stressed Guido must feel, they just don't give him a break.

Throughout the film the film will transition into a dream, which at some points is quite obvious, but at others you may be sitting there going "Whaa??" until the part of the dream that defines it as a dream, I didn't have a problem the second time through, the first time I got confused quite a lot, keep in mind though I was quite tired (another factor why I wasn't too huge on it the first time). The dreams throughout the film are great in showing how Guido feels about himself, his past, the film he wants to make, etc. They give you an insight into Guido's mindset.

Each moment in the film is a moment I can look back, smile and go "Wow", each scene looked and felt so amazing. A lot of the frames in the film could be frozen and made into a picture you put in your home or in a prestigious art gallery, really fantastic cinematography. Some films benefit from being Black and White, and some benefit from being in colour, this definitely needs to be black and white, because I think if this was in colour it would just distract you, and give it less meaning, whereas because it's in black and white, it stays simple and the messages given across are far more simple which is better in this case. I don't really know how else to describe why this is better in black and white than I'm sure it would be in colour, just simply I'm sure it would be better in black and white than in colour, I feel the same when it comes to Night of the Living Dead.

The acting by the entire cast was fantastic, the characters I felt, were biased in favor of Guido's feelings and shown mostly how Guido saw them. A lot of the characters were annoying, and misunderstood Guido. Tried to control Guido, and boss him around, a lot of them didn't even really know Guido but would obviously claim they did. Though Guido may have understood some of their views, and maybe even respected some of them, I still felt as if he didn't really care about them too much, which is where the end comes in.

The ending, the final scene, the final five minutes (give or take a couple minutes) of 8½ are crucial and so perfectly done. It seems as if the film described Guido plans to make is somewhat similar to the actual film [8½]. I don't know this by my own knowledge, but it has been said that this is quite strongly autobiographical for Federico Fellini (director) which you can sort of feel by the end, at least it seemed that way to me. I can't say much about the ending in particular without spoiling it, so I'll just say, pay attention to the end.

I did not forget about the music, I just simply don't know what to say other than it was perfect and captures the mood perfectly. Do not expect a very simple straight forward and normal film, because you will not get that from 8½ and that is for sure. 8½ is a very unique film, that is easily described as "weird", I guess. I loved practically every aspect of the film. It's a decent length, only a little over two hours, so those interested, check it out.

Click me to view the trailer!