La dolce vita

Federico Fellini, Italy, 1960
4 out of 4 stars

I liked the previous Fellini film that I saw, but this one was leagues better Even though it’s one of the two longest movies I’ve watched this year, there were no slow spots whatsoever, especially impressive considering that’s one of my most frequent criticisms of films.

Even more than La strada, this is an extremely episodic film. Fellini fades away from one event to the other without giving any direct hint as to where we’ve gone or how much time has elapsed. Rather than causing needless difficulty for the viewer, this approach somehow seems organic and a fitting way to convey a sense of the protagonist’s progression, or lack thereof, as the case may be. I actually find myself, to a certain extent, at a loss in my attempt to explain why this was so good. It is nice to find yet another much-avowed “classic” that I really enjoyed, especially without having to make any special allowances for its age or something like that. This film really seemed closer to flawless than anything I’ve seen lately.

Source: Koch DVD
17 April, 5:12 PM