| | 8 1/2 DVD (3 Customer Reviews)
| Category | Dramas DVDs, Mystery Movies, Criterion Collection Videos, Foreign Films, Recommended, Classic, Essential Cinema, Fantasy, Satire, Fantasy Worlds, Women, Surreal, Italian, Film About Film, Filmmakers, Filmmaking, Showbiz, Actresses, Self Analysis | | Starring | Marcello Mastroianni, Barbara Steele, Claudia Cardinale, Anouk Aimée, Mario Pisu, Sandra Milo, Rosella Falk | | Director | Federico Fellini | | Composer | Nino Rota | | Director of Photography | Gianni Di Venanzo | | Producer | Angelo Rizzoli | | Screenwriter | Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli, Brunello Rondi |
Anouk Aimee, Barbara Steele, Claudia Cardinale, Marcello Mastroianni - Director: Federico Fellini, Rossella Falk, Sandra Milo A fascinating, surreal view of a filmmaker's efforts to develop a new project, 8 1/2
stars Fellini regular Marcello Mastroianni in this semiautobiographical piece about a movie director's midlife crisis. Replete with fabulous performances and signature Fellini visual touches, it stars Anouk Aimée, Sandro Milo, and Claudia Cardinale. 8 1/2 is a touching, hilarious, and meditative viewing experience.
Federico Fellini's Oscar-nominated 8 1/2 is a masterpiece of storytelling and cinema. The most autobiographical of Fellini's films, the plot of which concerns a 43-year-old film director who is having a midlife crisis, it is a career benchmark for this magnificent Italian New Wave director. Beautifully choreographed with flashbacks, dream sequences, exaggerated fantasy scenes, and magical surrealist episodes, 8 1/2 is one of the richest, most exuberant movies ever made, in the mode of Fellini's artfully abstract LA DOLCE VITA and AMARCORD.
Guido Anselmi (Marcello Mastroianni) is at a crisis point in his life and his work; in the opening sequence, Guido, suffocating, is caught in traffic with the windows of his car locked shut. He climbs out of the sunroof and literally rises up over the highway into the clouds, seemingly free, when he realizes there's a rope tied around his ankle that is violently pulling him back to earth. Cutting from this dream to the health spa where Guido is trying to recapture his creativity and write the screenplay for his next film, his vices become clear: Guido is self-absorbed, and he's distracted by the fabulous cast of actresses, intellectuals, and eccentrics who have joined him at the spa. Additionally he struggles with Freudian complexes about his wife (Anouk Aimée), his lover (Sandro Milo), his ideal woman (Claudia Cardinale), and his dead parents; and his repressive Catholic guilt follows him everywhere like a haunting mist. Theatrical Release: June 25, 1963.
The title marks the number of films that Fellini had made by 1963. Although 8 1/2 was actually Fellini's ninth film, his first two films were directorial collaborations: VARIETY LIGHTS (with Alberto Lattuada) and THE WHITE SHEIK (with Arturo Galea).
Academy Award Nominations: 5, including Best Director, Best (Original) Story and Screenplay. Academy Awards: Best (Black-and-White) Costume Design, Best Foreign Film.
This film is considered to be the favorite of Fellini fans. It is likewise heralded by critics, directors, film-buffs, and scholars as having created its own unique cinematic language. Fellini's ability to capture the frustration of a director who cannot answer the questions asked of him by a stream of actors, journalists, and agents is what most industry professionals admire about the film. For Fellini fans, it is the way that the director shows Guido's total frustration with his love life, his ego, his creative ability, and his past by leading viewers on a tour of his bizarre psyche. 8 1/2 Reviews: "...8 1/2 is the best film ever made about filmmaking....The film weaves in and out of reality and fantasy....It is a film filled to bursting with inspiration..."
-- Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times "...The most famous screen treatise ever about the illogical undertaking of making a movie..."
-- Mike Clark, USA Today "...The greatest mind-game movie ever..."-- Entertainment Weekly Staff, Entertainment Weekly "...[T]he ideas and texture of 8 1/2 have never ceased to be an inspiration to artists everywhere..."
-- Premiere Staff, Premiere "[T]he film teems with Jungian imagery, while grappling with the alienating effects of modernity and, overall, the exasperating quest for contentment in an arbitrary and uncertain world."-- Simon Braund, Empire 8 1/2 | List Price | $39.95 (You save $8.70) | | Studio | Criterion Collection | | Orig Year | 1963 | | DVD Encoding | Region 1 | | All Time Sales Rank |  4726  | | CD Universe Part number | 2216523 | | Catalog number | EIG020 | | Discs | 2 | | Release Date | Dec 04, 2001 | | Rating | Not Rated | | Also Known As | Otto e mezzo; Federico Fellini's 8 1/2 | | Running Time | 138 Minutes | | Additional Info | Subtitled | | Movie Details | B&W; Mono Sound; Digitally Re-Mastered; HiFi Sound; Subtitled; Criterion Collection |
8 1/2 Movie Review Average Rating: (4.7 out of 5 stars)   classic in self reflecting cinema
This is an excellent movie. The characters are all enjoyable and the subject matter of the movie is quite interesting. There are some slow parts in my opinion which drop it to 4 stars for me, but the the director is a master and everything in the movie has a reason to it. Check it out!
Submitted by a reviewer (Moscow, ID) 
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 Awesome DVD for any lover of film
I, being a film student, LOVE this film. Don't get me wrong, it is extremely hard to watch and is downright confusing but it is just so appealing. Fellini does an excellent job of displaying his innermost feelings and turmoils through this film. The performances within the film are top notch (as with any Fellini film). I'd recommend this to anyone with a heavy interest in film or Italian cinema. This is a masterpiece.
Submitted by a reviewer (detroit, mi)
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The best of the best.
I started out watching italian horror films. I loved Dario Argento and Mario Bava films. These films are good but lack plot. Then I discovered fellini. 8 1/2 was the first fellini movie I saw. It changed my life. I have always wanted to be writer and movie director as long as I can remember. Origianlly I was inspired by the works of Hitchcock...he was my favorite director...that was until I was introduced to the maesto FELLINI. 8 1/2 has impaced my life in ways I can not efficiently express. I view film, storytelling, and life in general in a completely different way. This movie is mezmeriing. The first time I watched I was bored to death, however, I made myself watch it a second time and it has since become one of my all time favorite films. Every time I watch it I discover something else, a hidden meaning if you will. I speak English and the subtitles were annoying the first time I watched it but now I dont even need the subtitles because i have the entire movie memorized. It is truly a masterpiece and Fellini's best...soon followed by the dazzling JULIET OF THE SPIRITS. Ben...the movie critic hahaha
Submitted by a reviewer (Hickory, NC, USA)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No A great help to everybody
I enjoy Fellini very much, because his films are human, lyric and harmonic. It`s a great help for people who are passing threw problems, like depression. It shows a depressive movie director who stoped to have ideas for films. He finds life boring, meaningless and everybody annoying. Then, in the end, he finds the meaning of life in a very moving way. It`s realy worthwhile to watch it.
Submitted by a reviewer (Palmas, Brasil)
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This review is for a different format. | Have you seen this movie? |  |
8 1/2 DVD Region 1
Keep Case
Two-Disc Set
Single Side - Dual Layer
Disc One:
Full Frame -
1.33
Audio:
Mono - Italian
Introduction -
1. Terry Gilliam-Filmmaker
Booklet
Audio Commentary -
1. Gideon Bachmann-Friend of Director
2. Antonio Monda-NYU Professor of Film
Trailer -
1. Original Theatrical Trailer
Disc Two:
Additional Release Materials:
Bonus Features -
1. FELLINI: A DIRECTOR'S NOTEBOOK
2. NINO ROTA: BETWEEN CINEMA AND CONCERT
Interviews -
1. Sandra Milo-Actor
2. Lina Wertmuller-Assistant Director
3. Vittorio Storaro-Cinematographer (Discussing work of cinematographer
Gianni di Venanzo)
Text/Photo Gallery:
Production Stills
8 1/2 Video 8 1/2 Women, Broken Embraces, Contempt, Day for Night, Dolce Vita, Ginger & Fred, Girls, JCVD, Notte, Stardust Memories, Synecdoche, New York Purchase 8 1/2 Movie To buy, Click on price to add to cart | L'Avventura DVD (1960) Widescreen; Special Edition; Subtitled
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