AMARCORD Review II
There are the fantasy and tall tale sequences at the hotel, narrated by the Lawyer (Luigi Rossi) — one of several Fourth Wall breakers — the fantasy marriage of fat boy Ciccio to sexy Aldina at the behest of the floral image of Mussolini, and the townsfolk rowing out to see the fantastical America-bound luxury liner, The Rex.
Nino Rota’s score is the best thing in the film, though Giuseppe Rotunno’s cinematography is not far behind, especially in the sunset scene where Uncle Teo is coaxed down from the apple tree and back to the asylum.
The Criterion Collection’s two-disc DVD is a great improvement on the 1998 single-disc edition. It is a radiant film transfer, in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Thankfully, the film comes with not only subtitles but in an dubbed English version as well.
The first disc has Amarcord, the American trailer, and an audio commentary by film scholars Peter Brunette and Frank Burke, in addition to a deleted scene of a lost ring in a toilet. Though mostly solid, the commentary at times suffers from the duo’s reading way too much into the film, even as they decry the very same thing done by others. They also delve into longwinded explanations of the obvious, such as Fellini’s use of self-representation in a film laden with deliberate grotesques, his attacks on Fascism, the church, schools, and sexual mores, and the themes of the intrusion of the real world into memory — the peacock, foreigners, the Fascists, The Rex, etc. (Especially considering that the film ends with the word Amarcord, not Fin, onscreen.)
Disc two has a 45-minute documentary called Fellini’s Homecoming, an interview with Magali Noël, a gallery of Fellini’s drawings of the film’s characters, a collection of stills and radio ads, and audio interviews with Fellini and others, which had been conducted by Fellini cohort Gideon Bachmann. Also included are a video restoration demonstration, and a 63-page booklet with the full text of Fellini’s 1967 essay "My Rimini" plus an essay by film scholar Sam Rohdie.
In sum, Amarcord succeeds because its totality is greater than any of its parts. It may not be a great film, but it is a great display of artistic excellence, as the director marshals countless disparate elements into a film that succeeds far more often than it doesn’t. In Amarcord, Federico Fellini shows he is a great artist even when his art is not exactly great.
© Dan Schneider
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of Mr. Schneider, and they may not reflect the views of the Alternative Film Guide.
Academy Award Win
Best Foreign Language Film (1974)
2 Academy Award Nominations
Best Direction: Federico Fellini
Best Original Screenplay: Federico Fellini, Tonino Guerra
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Tags: Amarcord, Classic Movies, DVDs, Federico Fellini, Film Reviews, Nino Rota
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