Ginger & Fred

Marcello Mastroianni and Giulietta Masina star in "Ginger and Fred" from 1986, directed by Federico Fellini.

Amelia and Pippo once had a successful act imitating Fred and Ginger. Thirty years after their act, they are asked to dance in a special Christmas show for TV called "We Are Proud To Present."

It's a real freak show with the most bizarre acts you've ever seen, including a priest who left the priesthood and is now engaged, a man of the cloth who can levitate himself, lookalikes - some very strange acts.

Amelia and Pippo not only danced together but were involved. However Amelia married, had a daughter and is now widowed. Pippo married as well.

Amelia is worried that Pippo isn't up to the dancing, and when the power goes out in the theater, the two consider bolting.

Bittersweet film with marvelous acting and real chemistry between the two.

Masina was married to Fellini and died five months after he did.

Before I saw this movie, I had heard how it was considered one of Federico Fellini's more accessible movies. If this was meant of Fellini's films from the sixties on, I can agree with that. The film is basically two things: one big jab at television and giving Giuletta Masina the opportunity to show everyone how adorable she is (she succeeds). The TV angle, however scathing it may have been in 1986; today with the plethora of reality TV shows, the film just seems prescient. The film's very basic storyline is Masina reuniting with old dance partner Marcello Mastroianni for a TV show. Filling in the rest of the movie (and sometimes obscuring the main story) are the many oddball characters scheduled for the TV show. As anyone familiar with Fellini knows, he loves outrageous people. In this film, for example, there are transsexuals, psychics, a midget troupe and a cow with many teats. The first part of the movie, at the hotel, is a little too much because everything is thrown at the viewer at once. The characters, television, Ginger and Fred, all vie for your attention and it can be overwhelming. Once at the studio, the film kind of settles down and one is able to enjoy the film and it's characters. Not one of Fellini's best but also not only for fanatics of Fellini either.

This wasn't a bad film, though those without previous knowledge of Fellini's films may not like it as much. Giuletta Masina and Marcello Mastroani give their usual great performances. I actually thought Marcello gave one of his better performances here, in that he displayed a great comedic timing. I am mostly familiar with Fellini's pre-1970 films so I was not sure how a film made in the 1980's would do (given how much cinema had changed from the 50's/60's to the 80's), but he still delivers an enjoyable film, thanks in large part to good acting by the two leads. I enjoyed the satirical attack on television and the modern era (advertisting, etc.), which I happen to strongly agree with. The TV show scene near the end contains your typical Fellini "magic" and aesthetics, so I enjoyed that as well. This is by no means comparable to Fellini's masterpieces, but is still a well-made and enjoyable film, and more accessible than some of his more outrageous stuff he's made in past years. 7/10.

Ginger e Fred is much more a film about the Italian psyche than a film about an old dance team that reunites after 40 years to appear on a TV variety show. It takes place at Christmastime, and having spent Christmas in Rome, the fun-insane carnival atmosphere Fellini depicts is pretty accurate, but exaggerated for film. Walking around Rome I found subconscious playing back bits of the soundtrack and it was only then that I realized how much I love this film. It's also about people who time leave behind. And about two people who are tragically unable to say how much they do love each other. It's also very very funny. Fellini go the idea for the film after seeing his older films butchered on Italian TV. A highlight is an old woman who was paid not to watch TV for a month. She's brought into the studio a mental wreck, swearing she'll never do it again and promises to watch more and more TV.

I think this is the last great Federico Fellini picture. Maybe it's not as classic as "I vitelloni", "La strada", "Le notti di Cabiria", "La dolce vita", "Otto e mezzo" and "Amarcord", but it's a return to a more comedy style and it's one of the most accessible works of the Maestro as well.

"Ginger e Fred" (1985) comes after a series of more experimental films from Fellini. In this satirical comedy about TV power, a couple of old dancers reunite for a Christmas show. They enter a world where everything is taken for making audience, the two and their art are just caricatures... But who cares? The only important thing is audience.

In this feature Fellini warns about TV dangers -in a very sarcastic way he anticipates what TV is today with all these Reality shows.

The film is a typical Fellini picture -the story has not a real plot, it's a voyage where strange people (also in a physical way!) meet, we always can find exaggerated and ambiguous situations...

At the same time there's a lot of tenderness between the two dancers, superbly played by Marcello Mastroianni (who starred in several Fellini works) and Giulietta Masina (the actual Fellini's wife). It's useless to say that the chemistry between the two main actors is rally great.

It's quite a nostalgic movie -it seems that Fellini looks back and thinks about a world in which fantasy and creativity could be expressed in a better way, whereas TV kills everything.

The two subsequent films of the Italian director ("Intervista" and "La voce della luna") are rather minor -although poetic they're not as fresh and simple as "Ginger e Fred".

We miss Federico, Giulietta and Marcello.