The nice thing about Amarcord is its tone of quiet melancholy. This re-imagining of Fellini’s childhood in provincial Rimini in the thirties plays as a series of sketches, where sometimes little more than mood is invoked and the sequence fades out on a note of peaceful epiphany (the peacock in the snow). At other times any cracks in the structure are successfully papered over by extended Nino Rota tunes. There’s some ritualistic mocking of Mussolini’s fascism but it seems pretty half-hearted compared to what other Italian directors were doing at the same time (The Conformist or Marco Leto’s sadly little-known La Villeggiatura). Fellini’s at his best in the final wedding sequence, in the way it slowly winds down until only a few guests are left in the near empty landscape; then they too leave, and the film quietly, slowly fades out.
by Ian Johnston | Source: 35mm print
14 Oct 2007 12:09 PM | Submit Comment
