I Vitelloni1953

Being my third Fellini film after Nights Of Cabiria [My favorite work of his yet] & La Strada; both featuring his real life wife Giulietta Masina in the lead, this one really made me cringe out to be absolutely honest. If this was shown to me without knowing who the director was, I'd have gone through a thousand names before even thinking of Fellini being the one. Regressive as hell, like I genuinely don't understand how people here are writing rave 4/5 star reviews calling it "nostalgic" "magical" and "dream-like" What the fuck is dream-like about seeing the main character systematically cheat on his wife (while having a newborn on the way mind you) with multiple women throughout the film and call it a day by having his dad pretend to belt him for it and the wife feeling all sorry and forgetting all this ever happened. I thought this was supposed to be a film about 5 friends in a small town dealing with their own arcs, or at the least being bums and letting that be the whole film. It did start out as one, but then we get stuck with one (the homewrecker) who then is made into the main character. I say made into because it's the most rushed plot, going from focusing on each of the five dealing with their own lives and families, to suddenly transporting to a montage of the main character cheating on his wife (while he's literally beside the pregnant wife?!?) and making that the core plot. For someone who's always had a fairly parallel taste to what most of these letterboxd reviewers write, this one is by far the most egregious to even see what is being talked about this film here. However, I do wanna end this with the things I liked, because, I did like a lot apart from what I wrote above.

• The frames were still and beautiful, something which I've now come to identify as his signature style of framing.
• Really few but beautiful bonds in the film, like Moraldo & Guido discovering a sweet friendship through the years by just happening to be night owls on the streets of Italy.
• The humor is really sharp and lands almost every single time, even with the non-actors, which Fellini manages to make them feel as though they are one.

That's about it. Long ass review, but I really did need to get it out, considering how barely two users even mentioned these fucked up parts in their reviews. I was going on a Fellini streak this whole week, but a break after this is probably the more sound option to go with. I miss Giulietta Masina lol.