Despite having known about him for years,the only thing I've seen related to auteur film maker Federico Fellini is the excellent
Without Pity (1948-also reviewed),which he co-wrote. Having first heard about the film during Kim Newman and Alan Jones commentary for Dario Argento's Tenebrae (1982-also reviewed),and with a ICM poll for the best films of 1987 coming up,I decided to invest in Intervista.
View on the film:
Reuniting from Tenebrae, Lara Wendel and Christian Borromeo give delightful performances,with Wendel capturing the excitement of a actress working with a legend,and Christian Borromeo brings out a playfulness from being on set with the film maker. Joining old friends of the good life, Marcello Mastroianni brings a touching melancholy as himself, conjuring the highlight of the film, via Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg watching footage of themselves together in faded footage from a fading era of cinema.
Interviewed by a documentary crew at Cinecitta studio, the screenplay by co-writer/(with Gianfranco Angelucci) directing auteur Federico Fellini give the dialogue of the fake documentary portion an in the moment feel, via criss-crossing between snappy questions from the interviewer, with the more considered replies by Fellini. Pulling four films out of his magicians hat, Fellini continues building upon his themes with a enticing zest, magicking up the blurring between fantasy and reality of Fellini reminiscing about his time at Cinecitta seeping into the making of a fake film version of Kafka's Amerika.
Finding it more difficult to fly at his advance age, Fellini & Sergio Leone's regular cinematographer Tonino Delli Colli continue the later theme of Fellini's credits in a bitter-sweet love letter to Cinecitta. Turning his magical surrealism towards the magic of cinema, Fellini takes a flight of fantasy in tracking shots down the sets of the Kafka's Amerika and his heightened re-enactment of the first visit to the studio, pinned by a striking final shot, which peels away the fantasy of Cinecitta.
View on the film:
Reuniting from Tenebrae, Lara Wendel and Christian Borromeo give delightful performances,with Wendel capturing the excitement of a actress working with a legend,and Christian Borromeo brings out a playfulness from being on set with the film maker. Joining old friends of the good life, Marcello Mastroianni brings a touching melancholy as himself, conjuring the highlight of the film, via Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg watching footage of themselves together in faded footage from a fading era of cinema.
Interviewed by a documentary crew at Cinecitta studio, the screenplay by co-writer/(with Gianfranco Angelucci) directing auteur Federico Fellini give the dialogue of the fake documentary portion an in the moment feel, via criss-crossing between snappy questions from the interviewer, with the more considered replies by Fellini. Pulling four films out of his magicians hat, Fellini continues building upon his themes with a enticing zest, magicking up the blurring between fantasy and reality of Fellini reminiscing about his time at Cinecitta seeping into the making of a fake film version of Kafka's Amerika.
Finding it more difficult to fly at his advance age, Fellini & Sergio Leone's regular cinematographer Tonino Delli Colli continue the later theme of Fellini's credits in a bitter-sweet love letter to Cinecitta. Turning his magical surrealism towards the magic of cinema, Fellini takes a flight of fantasy in tracking shots down the sets of the Kafka's Amerika and his heightened re-enactment of the first visit to the studio, pinned by a striking final shot, which peels away the fantasy of Cinecitta.