1960s: 10 Films That Defined the Decade
5. 8 1/2 (1963)
Federico Fellini’s semi-autobiographical film 8 1/2 is groundbreaking. In the 1960s, American audiences turned their eyes more and more towards Europe to see where the future of film was headed.
Men like Fellini, Ingmar Bergman, and Jean-Luc Godard were taking film to newer and greater heights.
Fellini’s fascination with Surrealism reached its zenith creatively with 8 1/2.
Darkly humorous, the world in the tale closely resembles a metaphorical zoo. Fellini played no favorites though. Like fellow surrealist Luis Bunuel, Fellini’s characters belonged more in a zoo than polite society.
Checkout the plot, via Wikipedia:
(8 1/2 is) ” a 1963 Italian surrealist comedy-drama film directed by Federico Fellini and co-scripted by Fellini, Tullio Pinelli, Ennio Flaiano, and Brunello Rondi.
It stars Marcello Mastroianni as Guido Anselmi, a famous Italian film director who suffers from stifled creativity as he attempts to direct an epic science fiction film. “
Fellini’s 8 1/2‘s a visual and literary masterpiece that shines a bright light on the true face of the jet-set. He shows us surrealism is the only tool available to see the truth.
