Nando Orfei Movies
Federico Fellini's warmly nostalgic memory piece examines daily life in the Italian village of Rimini during the reign of Mussolini, and won the 1974 Academy Award as Best Foreign Film. The film's greatest asset is its ability to be sweet without being cloying, due in great part to Danilo Donati's surrealistic art direction and to the frequently bawdy injections of sex and politics by screenwriters Fellini and Tonino Guerra. Fellini clearly has deep affection for the people of this seaside village, warts and all, and communicates it through episodic visual anecdotes which are seen as if through the mists of a favorite dream, playfully scored by Nino Rota and lovingly photographed by Giuseppe Rotunno. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruno Zanin, Pupella Maggio, (more)
- 1970
The culmination of filmmaker Federico Fellini's lifelong love affair with circus folk was his 1971 The Clowns (I clowns). Fellini's alter ego this time is a young boy, taking in his first circus (again, we're treated to the "parade" motif so often utilized by the director). As the clowns go through their rollicking routines, Fellini takes the time to snipe at movie critics by having one humorless newspaperman, who keeps repeating "What does it mean?", inundated with pails of water. There is also a fleeting homage to Charlie Chaplin in the form of Chaplin's daughter Victoria, who portrays an auditioning clown. Made for Italian TV, The Clowns sustains its exuberance by taking absolutely nothing seriously--not even Fellini, who makes fun of himself throughout in the guise of a pretentious documentary filmmaker. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Riccardo Billi, Fanfulla, (more)
