Nights of Cabiria

I often feel like I don't quite know what to say about Fellini films. I always like them, but I seem to be at a loss for words after I see them. Today I watched Nights of Cabiria, directed by Federico Fellini in 1957. The poster I found for it is pretty goofy, but somehow, it conveys the personality of the main character really well. However, it makes it look like way more fun of a movie than it really is - the plot is often sad, but in a good way, of course.

I sort of put off watching this movie all day because I didn't have much ability to focus. I was doing errands and making sure that everything for my project is operational (checking what movies are on instant, making sure my queues are in order, etc), something that I actually hope to write about later this weekend. There is a lot of work that goes into this project that I've never mentioned! Despite my procrastination, I really ended up enjoying this movie. I loved the character of Cabiria. She seems really unique and occasionally strange compared to the other characters, but it feels like that's just her quirky personality, and she's comfortable with it.

Amarcord

Oh, Friday nights, when I'd rather be drinking wine, watching Kitchen Nightmares, Fringe, or screwing around on my phone. Instead, I sat down and watched Amarcord, directed by Federico Fellini in 1973. It's a good movie...I wasn't astonished by it, but I was also really scatterbrained when watching it. A day full of bad moods will do that to you. I really enjoyed it, though. I liked how even though there were so many characters, you felt really connected to them. The movie is really funny at parts, also, which helped to make you feel closer to the characters.  

8 1/2

Tb

This is the first film from The Great Movies that I haven't ever seen. I know of Federico Fellini, but I've never actually watched any of his films, which is sort of embarrassing to admit. So, the first Fellini film I have ever seen, officially, is 8 1/2 (1963). Unfortunately, I had a less than ideal viewing experience - I was trying to watch this film on Netflix, where it was streaming. Strangely, the captions at the bottom were cut off on my TV, and you could barely make out the tops of the letters. I ended up having to watch it, windowed, on my computer, which was much more frustrating and uncomfortable, obviously. I still really enjoyed this movie, though. Being so unfamiliar with Fellini, I feel like I might not understand it very well yet. The more films you see by one director, the more you are comfortable with the types of characters they use, the visuals they tend to rely on, things of that matter - but I don't know anything that Fellini does normally. In Ebert's review, he writes a lot about 8 1/2 as compared to Fellini's other films, so I am lacking some appreciation for it. Maybe as I go on and watch more of his works, I will be able to come back and watch this again when this project is over, and maybe I can better understand what Ebert was writing about.