MovieChat Forums > La dolce vita (1961) Discussion > Fellini is so over rated

Fellini is so over rated

posted 20 years ago by inlovewithmovies
275 replies | jump to latest

Fellini is not a great film maker. He's not even a good film maker. To place him on the same level with the greats is an insult to the greats. He is completely self-indulgent. His films are pretentious, smug, and worse of all boring. He is not a visionary, but a phony. This movie is just a clear example of that.
La Dolce Vita has no plot and is exceedingly dull at a run time of 3 hours long. Gone With the Wind, the Godfather, and Titanic-- I can see as deserving of 3 hours, but this piece of triviality could have been told in 10 minutes. It's been a long time since a movie has inspired so much hatred in me for what was on the screen. I would rather be subjected to a Jennifer Lopez movie marathon, starting with Gigli than to go through another viewing of this never ending tortuous meaningless journey through Marcello's vapid existence. In fact, throw in a Ben Affleck marathon while you are at it starting with Surving Christmas and I'd still gladly take that torture then another Fellini "classic." I've tried to like Fellini and this about the fifth movie I've seen of his and I'm sorry but he is not brilliant. Fellini should take lessons from Goddard on what a cool movie is supposed to be like.

[–] stefano86 18 years ago

all the directors of this *beep* world love this movie a lot only this.

_________________
-Phantom

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] SaguaroD 18 years ago

"So my conclusion: A movie can be complex and deep and stuff without being boring"

Your right. There is much truth to that, but the same is true of the converse. A film or story can be moving or complex while not having a lot of plot development and at times, a bore. Im not in any way saying you are illiterate, or ignorant, or uneducated, or anything like that but i think if you are familiar with classic literature you might agree that while many books are not necessarily exciting or are real page turners they can still move you or inspire you. While I can't agree that I was bored with this film(maybe im just weird), I can see why many would be. La Dolce Vita is not my favorite film, and I don't get really pumped about watching it, but I think there has always been something mesmorizing about the decadent story of Marcello.

This may sound like jibberish to you, but I think im a tragedy

[–] lfost 18 years ago

Titanic? for *beep* sakes!
what about the rock n' roll scene?
when Ekberg asks the young Italian rocknroller for a song and every dances, that's Fellini at his very best
thats him telling us to enjoy life, because it is so beautiful, because it is so brief
The beatiful life man, La Dolce Vita!

Adriano ! Adriano!
Canta una canzone! ( sing a song Adriano! )
Adriano!

Adriano gets the microphone and starts singing rockn'roll, everybody starts dancing!
Anita Ekberg clapping, with a smile on her face saying: " C'mon everybody follow me! "

It brings tears to my eyes,

THose of us who can tell the difference between Godard and Fellini
are grateful forever for La Dolce Vita and we miss him desperately.

Adriano! Canta una canzone!

[–] earningredwings 18 years ago

lfost, even your reimagining brought tears to my eyes. This is one of the greatest films ever, and to people who can't see that, i pity you, for you will never know the beauty of pure cinema, which is exactly what this is. Art is one of the few things that will live forever. Wars won't last forever, fads or whatever is cool at the time won't last long, democrary even! If the art is pure, it will live forever. This film along with Jules and Jim, and a couple of Bergman's films will last forever and you will still not know what art is.

[–] rakeshsharmabr 18 years ago

I love Fellini.
I like Ray.
I can watch without wincing a Godard film.

If people have problems, and insist on calling me pretentious, they may go sink.
But, oops.
They missed Titanic.

[–] al-597 18 years ago

Let's focus on La Dolce Vita, the movie at which this message board resides.
La Dolce Vita is at its core one of the most profound and complete character studies in film history. The movie is about a young man trying to find himself in a turbulant world that is trying to tear him apart. It is not dull if you understand the importance that every vingette holds in the development of this character. The grandiose allur of Anita Eckberg's character, Mastrioni's distanced relationship with his father, the intellectual family man that Mastrioni longs to be, all of these things create something that Gone With the Wind and Titanic never came close to doing, creating a fully realized and intriguing character that represented an entire generation.

[–] romarrclark 18 years ago

al-597, you could't of said it better

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] UCHoodman 18 years ago

I dont kno what to think of Fellini yet, I've only seen Nights of Cabiria. And Masina was kept that moving going for me. I didnt think it was that great, but I thought Masina was one of the greatest actresses I had ever seen. So I dunno what to think of Fellini yet. His direction wasnt what stood out to me, it was Masina's acting.

[–] Raptoralic 18 years ago

God!!! you are so stupid. Fellini is a director that can not be reached or compare to nobody,except a few, he is distinct and unique. He is an expert in dialog and feelings applied to movie cinema.I think movies like Fellini can not be made anymore. My favorite is "La strada" but don't forget if you read the mini-biography of the great Ingmar Bergman in the Imdb you will see "La dolce vita" in his top 3 favorite movies and also one of Tarkovsky favorite film makers. I could speak about Fellini for an hour but i'm to tired right now.So think again before you make this remarks, or "scuze moi", you can not appreciate good taste, go and see American Pie series or whatever :)

[–] smjrahbar 18 years ago

May Lord have mercy upon you my child!
Titanic is a masterpiece & Felinni is garbage! Oh, god forgive this guy since he/she doesn't know!

Study a little about real cinema! Felinni is CINEMA! Pure & Simple!

[–] tommycashin-1 18 years ago

I must admit I felt that satirycon was pretentious and too self-indulgent however I thought this film was beauty not since the third man had poetry been showed on film so brilliantly.

Attica Attica!!!

[–] UCHoodman 18 years ago

Don't kno too much about the film, but I do kno that Titantic is not a masterpiece, not then, not now, not ever

[–] jake_cochrane 18 years ago

Fellini is a master of illusion. Like Harry Houdini or Alfred Hitchcock. I think "La Dolce Vita" clearly shows his fantastic use of dialogue, as well as his tremendous camera work (the cinematography is just stunning!!). I know everybody is open to an opinion, but the poster of this blog seems fairly arrogant. If you were a true film fan, I'm sure you would find "La Dolce Vita" a fantastic experience, even if it hasn't got CGI and 30-minute carchases.

[–] UCHoodman 18 years ago

Now that I've seen the film I agree however, Fellini is acquired taste in which is far more for film connosieurs than Kurosawa, Yimou Zhang, or Hitchcock. Vastly different from most films I see, I have to be patient with Fellini's films. On another note La Dolce Vita rules

[–] rosabelverde_1127 18 years ago

Now that I've seen the film I agree however, Fellini is acquired taste

All tastes are aquired. We aren't born with them. Only we tend to forget about this when it comes to tastes acquired so early in life that we don't remember how and where we acquired them from and erroneously believe they came to us "naturally". In this respect taste has a lot in common with language.

So what exactly does it mean if you call Fellini acquired taste? I suppose that his filmic language is/was unfamiliar to you when you first encountered it? Well, it's like learning a foreign language as a grown-up, nothing more, but nothing less either. Some people can manage, like obviously you could, but some prefer to bash the foreing language for being incomprehensible to them, like so many others on this board. Next they like to repeat the old cliché that pictures are universal and therefore easier, the same that's said about music so often - but it's wrong in both cases.

Regards, Rosabel

[–] barbieri_f 18 years ago

I'm italian and I completely agree with you: Fellini is VERY overrated. You know, he did his best with stories like I Vitelloni or Amarcord, 'cause he was basically talkin' about his past, his life... Sometimes I wonder why people in USA love so much La Dolce Vita, I think it's because they find it exotic and weird, it's the only reason I can find for such a boring movie. If you wanna see good italian stuff watch Vittorio De Sica's masterpieces, like "Ladri di Biciclette", "Umberto D", "L'oro di Napoli". You won't regret it.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] obi_gui 17 years ago

Meh, some people brought that you didn't understand what art is, and it is likely to be true, but when looking at a movie, you must try to analyse it (take an assumption that everything on screen has been thought of by fellini and that a sense should come up if you try yourself decrypting it). Titanic isn't "art" in that sense because it gives you preordered answers, instant emotions and a great sense of shallowness. To understand art, you must question yourself on what it is first of all, if it is either a cool-to-the-book film or somethings that thrives in your mind because you couldn't make a grasp of what was the true meaning of its creation.

titanic...

[–] TheWanderingFish 17 years ago

Sometimes I wonder why people in USA love so much La Dolce Vita, I think it's because they find it exotic and weird, it's the only reason I can find for such a boring movie.

Is that really the only reason? You can't possibly imagine another reason why people (from around the world) have considered "La Dolce Vita" a classic for the past 45 years?

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It's hardly only people from the U.S. that love it. After all, it was awarded the Palme d'or at the Cannes Film Festival. And every ten years, Sight and Sound asks directors and filmmakers (from around the world) to list their ten favorite movies - looking at the most recent results, a number of those who chose "La Dolce Vita" as one of their films are not from the United States: http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/topten/poll/voted.php?film=La%20dolce%20vita%20(Fellini)

If you wanna see good italian stuff watch Vittorio De Sica's masterpieces, like "Ladri di Biciclette", "Umberto D", "L'oro di Napoli". You won't regret it.

And I have seen all of those. And "La Dolce Vita" is still a masterpiece.

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"I didn't like this highly acclaimed film, so let's try to find out what's wrong with all of those who did."

There are intelligent people who dislike "La Dolce Vita". There are intelligent people who like "Titanic". They are also intelligent people who do like "La Dolce Vita", and intelligent people who dislike "Titanic". People have eclectic taste in films, and two equally intelligent people can walk out of the same film with completely different opinions. Trying to figure out just why the other person disagreed with you, and how they can be so wrong, etc. - is a futile exercise. "La Dolce Vita" is still a well-loved film more than 45 years after its release. The IMDb message boards, as much as I hate to say it, are not the best place to have intelligent discussions about films (not that there aren't intelligent discussions about films here - but they tend to be drowned out by the "I hate this film and it's overrated and anyone who likes it is a moron who's just trying to suck up" crowd.) There's an abundance of intelligent analysis of "La Dolce Vita" available for those who are willing to look around a bit.

No matter how bored or annoyed one may be by a highly acclaimed film, it's generally best to assume that there actually is a reason that people like the film, and that it's not just the crowd mentality or pretentiousness or whatever other thing you're immediate response may be. It's an insult to those who like the film, and you'll always be wrong.

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Terms such as "overrated" and "pretentious" have been used so often (pretty much any film that has obtained any sort of critical popularity has had that "criticism" used against it) that they're now completely meaningless - as are any other single-word summations that people use to express their "disgust" or "disbelief" at a film's popularity, and at the people who like said film.

"Or perhaps it's not overrated"