Take my 'I'm a cinephile, not a movie buff' membership card away

After years of hearing about it, finally watched 8 1/2. A comedy it is not. A satirical look at the life of a director, intermixed with tales of his personal life, eh. As someone who grew up on films by guys like Woody Allen and later David Lynch, I now know where a lot if their inspiration came from. I also admire Fellini's eye for beauty, much like my favorite director, Bergman.

All this being said, the movie fell flat. Please, no comments about me not getting it. I thoroughly understood and even championed his ideas, that we are all haunted by mistakes, lost loves and taking some for granted. I even admired his honestly in telling his wife and his lovers that a woman can not change a man, especially one who draws so much of his inspiration from his own experiences. My problem is that the intentionally convoluted story, just isn't that interesting. It's repetitive and tame in many ways. His reality is more riviting than his fantasy and this troubled me.

In the end, I will chalk this up to being groundbreaking at the time and much like the plot, playing of the director's past successes, warranted or not.