In Search of Fellini

source: In Search of Fellini

Such a beautiful, humane and heartful movie. Just what a real good movie Is supposed to do, To transport you to another place for awhile. The actress Is so cute and her eys shine like the sun. I couldnt stop smiling

Reminiscent of Guillermo del Toro's work, here we see a balance drawn between innocence and what is sinister in Fellini's favorite item: love. Let me start with the movie's end which wraps around the movie, bringing it full circle. This element, to me, is one of the true hallmarks of great story telling. Reality is overcome by fantasy; a vehicle and accessory to projecting the fantastic onto life, which thus transformed, is good! To one almost completely unfamiliar with Fellini's work, this film is both a good introduction and is it's own creature, holding up it's own unique lens. The film makers did a good deed here. Here, the profane is transformed. The female protagonist's fixation on the fantastic is celebrated, a unique event in cinema these days, where truth is more often than not, seen as a brute. An authentic female heroically hunts down her own idea of what true love is. Her greatest endowment is not that her mother sheltered her from the world, but that her world is free from what is essentially abuse. We, of course, see this as a weakness initially, however, this concern is thrust aside as a whimsy never to be considered except as the enemy of what is by far more powerful, the dream of finding a love that can exude even more love from within to without. Projected in the spirit of Fellini, where his medium was so often also the message, the wonder and light of the cinema overcomes the darkness and bitterness of the concrete world.

In Search of Fellini was beautifully done. Every moment of the actors' lines and scenes were authentic. The entire cast did very well in their roles, from the film extras to the lead roles. Peter Arpesella as Fellini's assistant was also very well done. Ksenia Solo was a delight to watch as the isolated, painfully shy, innocent, and vulnerable Lucy. Enrico Oetiker as Pietro lit up the screen with his natural charisma and quiet intensity. Enrico did not have much overall screen time, but made a strong and lasting impression. Maria Bello as Lucy's mother and Mary Lyn Rajskub as Kerri were wonderfully acted. The love interests in this film share an onscreen chemistry that is rare. Their connection was natural, organic, and profound. There are moments in this film that remind me of the unmatched magic like quality of the many Italian classics I have enjoyed. The film score flows seamlessly within this movie and is just the right complement to the action and often is quite moving. The film is not necessarily fantasy and not quite realistic, but somewhere in between...perfect for a Fellini inspired film and very well done tribute to a master.

3/24/18. If you love Italy and Fellini, you will enjoy this quirky coming-of-age film. Solo is the 20 year-old daughter of single mom Bello and niece of aunt Rajskub. Overprotected all her life, she is suddenly forced to grow up when Bello discovers she is dying from cancer and can't face the fact of not being able to protect Solo from that reality. Solo goes to Italy in search of the director Fellini and while there loses a lot of her innocence that Bello can no longer protect her from. Along the way you will get to enjoy great Italian scenery in several cities, interspersed with Fellini clips and interactions between Bello and Rajskub as they deal with Bello's health issues and learning about what was so fascinating about Fellini's film.

Nice movie. Lucy is so over protected by her (single) mom who does not want her hurt by the 'lessons of life', that she is not even told that her dog dies, when it does. Lucy gets greeting cards from her dog that went 'off on an adventure'. So, when she is 20, and her mom is obviously declining in health, she is lost. A chance encounter with a screening of a Fellini movie leads to an obsession, and then, she takes off for a somewhat half baked trip to Italy. She has an appointment to keep with Fellini, which she sets up over the phone! Many practical details are glossed over (where did she get a passport, if mom was so protective, etc?). The movie shines in interweaving fantasy and her dreamlike state with reality and her mother's experiences with her own. This is not 'realism' by any stretch.. towards the end, we are rewarded with a young self confident woman, who has learned a lot of life lessons from her Italy trip.

I don't recall exactly how I found this film just a short while ago, but it looked like a light, pleasant tale that included some beautiful Italian settings and an interesting arty plot. I was right with the settings, but this film delivered quite the punch just as it very likely planned to align with the beauty, but also the dramatic content of Fellini's films. I'm far from an expert on Fellini and I've only glimpsed a few scenes over the years, but I think I understand the stature of his work. So if the emotions conjured up by this little modern gem is similar to that of the maestro, I should try have a deeper look at Fellini's work. So, I was rather surprised and taken aback a few times with the seriousness, fear and emotional weight of some of the scenes in this film. Many other scenes were almost pure art form and created quite the ball of confusion. What was she really experiencing and seeing? And how could the opening message of "Inspired by a almost true story" be true? In IMDB, it says that the film was inspired by a real adventure taken by co-writer Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson. I'm going to rate this is solid 7 or possibly an 8 for the simple reason I think I want to watch it again. It was beautiful, sad, sexy, scary, joyful, hopeful. It was a real rollercoaster of a ride. But it's not for everyone, maybe not an enjoyable ride for many people. But I liked it, a lot. 7/10.

Amazingly not a valentine to Fellini, this strange film invents and fluently speaks its own language throughout. It is pure storytelling - never veering into hero worship, it stays with the story of this young, fascinated woman on her peculiar journey of discovery. It manages to extract some of the more dazzling and compelling images from Fellini's films, particularly not to say emphatically, Giulietta Masina in La Strada and weave it facilely with the character's "real" time experiences. (How did they do that?!) I expected the worst but instead found it romantic and lighthanded, at times delightful. Anyone who goes to this film in search of parenting wisdom, will likely be disappointed. We are - refreshingly - shown her upbringing as a fait accompli without moralization, or in Fellini-like fashion. The film is the opposite of prescriptive. Very lovely work.

"In Search of Fellini" is not a film without flaws but due to a well-crafted sense of wonder, an obvious reverence of Fellini's work, and especially a terrific lead performance, it is able to overcome them and in the end deliver a satisfying drama. Young Lucy has been sheltered from the world by her loving, though over-protective, mom and after her 1st job interview goes awry, she stumbles upon a Fellini film festival and falls in love with the enigmatic films. So enamored is Lucy that she travels to Italy in the hopes of meeting the legendary filmmaker, in the process getting introduced to the real world, both the bad and the good of it. The film's writing is generally well done, though a couple aspects of the story require some suspension of disbelief. I didn't find that any of these moments too damaging however, though occasionally just a little distracting. The visuals were excellent; From beautiful wide shots of Italy too party scenes where vivid color usage livens things up, the film was nice looking and more importantly did a great job of placing how Lucy was viewing these scenes and events onto the screen. Her sense of excitement and wonder at the beauty of the Colosseum, for instance, along with her feelings of confusion during a hectic dance scene. Very well done indeed by the first-time director Taron Lexton and his cinematographer. I admit to not being a connoisseur of Frederico Fellini, though I have found what I have watched of his films enjoyable. The people behind "In Search of Fellini" obviously have great admiration of the late filmmaker, as their movie is chock full of references and parallels to his films. From the obvious (such as the appearance of the 'man in chains') to the subtler (Lucy's striped shirt) the love of Fellini is everywhere, and just seeing how much these filmmakers admired him adds even more charm to an already charming film. My favorite part of the movie however was Ksenia Solo's performance as Lucy. Already a big fan of Miss Solo's previous work, I think this may be her finest performance yet. Her Lucy is naïve and shy, though occasionally rash, but also curious and the primary source of the aforementioned charm. Miss Solo delivers all of this and a wide range of emotion throughout the film, in my opinion just top-notch work. The other actors do their part too though, Maria Bello as Lucy's mother Claire and Mary Lynn Rajskub as Claire's sister both deliver good performances as well. My main criticisms of the film are the previously mentioned parts of the story that require 'suspension of disbelief', but also the fact the film is occasionally melodramatic. There are more than a few times where some more subtlety would have been welcome. All in all, In Search of Fellini is probably not a brilliant film, but it is certainly a good one. Wonder-filled with some dramatic punch to boot, I found it thoroughly enjoyable. 8/10.

The fact that a movie kept me with eyes wide open at 2 am is a good start. I have read another review somewhere that you will dig this movie if you are a true romantic, and that is definitely true. You have to be a romantic to brush off some movie moments and concentrate on the actual story and the way it is filmed, which is beautifully. All the dangers are portrayed really well,as well as the capture of the beauty. Having explored Italy twice not so long ago, it was even easier to sink in to the story, not knowing much about Fellini ( bad, when you are actually watching a movie about connections to Fellini) I will now have to familiarise myself with some of his movies. Which I am looking forward to! Overall, I loved this movie, it is a very positive and heart warming story.