This video diary chronicling the behind the scenes of Fellini's classic "Amarcord" has a similar vibe and presentation as something that
the director would do. It's eccentric, colorful, filled with peculiar characters and random people everywhere at Cinecittá trying to either be part
of the movie or just meet the "monster" Fellini. It's part documentary with many interviews, behind the scenes moments, one deleted scene, and,
apparently, scripted sequences. It's not destined to explain the film neither give you some dimension of the dream-like scenario conceived by
Fellini or why he wanted to tell that particular childhood memory.
Highly enjoyable but also a very confusing project due to its mixture of elements and situations that feel as something strangely put
together. It's not the typical making of kind of thing (which is good and refreshing), so there'll be a sense of disorientation as you watch
interviews being interrupted here and there, or seeing the filmmakers "kidnapping" star Magali Noel just to interview her. Moments of hilarity
comes when Fellini and writer Tonino Guerra deal with a female German reporter with plenty of difficulties to express herself, much to the annoyance
of Fellini who depends on Guerra to translate the question, and it's a Babel of sorts between Italian, German and English language being spoken almost all at
once. Composer Nino Rota and his ideas used to create the musical score offer the most straight-forward sequence of the documentary, but it's very
brief - it's one of the greatest film scores of all time, yet he speaks with a great sense of simplicity.
Had it been made by Fellini himself, we might get something a little more extraordinary and memorable. But something tells me he had some input,
probably even conceived how he'd portrayed himself as a tough guy who screams over the phone to bring a certain person to the set, but said person
was already dead. Didn't love it as I was hoping for, but I liked it a lot as it brought back many memories from a spectacular film that I hadn't seen
in ages. 6/10.
