Not everyone loves it the hard-hearted critic David Thomson described FelliniвЂ™s opus thusly: вЂњNothing happens, except for flatulent set pieces, epic reaches of symbolism, and teary-eyed larger metaphorsвЂќ. While most know the film for that famous Trevi fountain flounce with gravity-defying Anita Ekberg, La Dolce Vita is in fact chock-a-block with striking set pieces and surreal, affecting encounters. We follow Marcello вЂ“ a gossip columnist played by Fellini-regular Marcello Mastroianni вЂ“ as he slouches handsomely through an odyssey of self-exploration that transports him through the cityвЂ™s higher social spheres. La Dolce Vita is the film most readily associated with Fellini and rightly so, for this three-hour satire of Swinging Rome walks a tightrope between a celebration of the period and an expose of its hollow heart. The choice for those pining after all the parties theyвЂ™re missing out on. Fun fact: Bob Dylan has cited the film as the inspiration for his song, Mr. La Strada, a stylistic bridge between FelliniвЂ™s early Rossellini-inspired neo-realist productions and his later, more picaresque films, brought the writer-director his first Oscar nod вЂ“ although he nearly didnвЂ™t complete filming after suffering a bout of depression during the shoot. Quinn, meanwhile, is magnetic as one of cinemaвЂ™s great jerks вЂ“ his ZampanГІ is a self-absorbed giant clad in impulse, rage, and violent habit, quick (ish) with a knife and not adverse to robbing some nuns if the opportunity presents.

It was a breakthrough role for Masina вЂ“ also FelliniвЂ™s wife вЂ“ who projects an otherworldly innocence with occasional Chaplinesque verve.

La Strada is concerned with the unholy pact between feral ZampanГІ (Anthony Quinn) and angelic Gelsomina (Giuleta Masina), after she is purchased from her mother for 10,000 lira to act as a kind of Sideshow Bob in ZampanГІвЂ™s touring strongman show. The tonic for when cabin fever kicks in and fantasies of a post-lockdown nomadic existence begin to appear deeply attractive. Today, to refer to a film as вЂFelliniesqueвЂ™ suggests that it has a surreal, carnivalesque essence, a whirling blend of sights and sounds that was typical of a Fellini flick. Chief among these is the circus (indeed, Fellini claimed to have run away to join a travelling circus when he was only seven). When Fellini says heвЂ™s remaking the same film, heвЂ™s talking about his leitmotifs and obsessions. He began his career during the Italian Golden Age of gritty neo-realist cinema, but after the 1950s his work grew more flamboyant, experimental, and self-referential, reflecting the changing times as well as key western influences like the Marx Brothers and Buster Keaton. вЂњI always direct the same film,вЂќ he once said, вЂњI cannot distinguish one from the other.вЂќ While itвЂ™s possible to imagine Michael Bay heaving a heartfelt, companionable sigh at hearing this, a quick glance at FelliniвЂ™s filmography demonstrates that a вЂњyouвЂ™ve seen one, youвЂ™ve seen them allвЂќ label doesnвЂ™t stick with the Italian maestro. No doubt his centenary coinciding with the silent streets of the epidemic would have appealed to his well-developed sense of the surreal.Дescribed by critic John Powers as the вЂњcinemaвЂ™s great laureate of the idвЂќ, Fellini wrote and directed the majority of his output, receiving four Best Foreign Language Oscar nominations and winning a Palme dвЂ™Or (for La Dolce Vita) along the way. But life is messy, a truth that Italian writer-director Federico Fellini examined over two dozen films during a four-decade career. A darkened room, bottomless popcorn, the doors opening at a pre-arranged time вЂ“ if only lockdown was as straightforward as cinema.

Federico fellini best movies