THE 200 DAYS OF ""8(apple)

by Deena Boyer ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

Federico Fellini's elegant entry into the neo-baroque, ""8(apple)"", remains fresh in the reviewer's memory, though he saw it quite a while back; reporter Deena Boyer's on-location journal of the film's shooting, which the reviewer finished reading a day ago, remains somewhat of a blur. And it's hard to say why. Certainly all the cornucopia, the behind-the-scene portraits of actors, designers, photographers, etc.; the little sketches of Fellini as clown, as maestro, as raconteur and so forth- were entertaining enough while turning the pages. And the revelations about script changes, the genesis of one of the film's key figures, La Saraghina, and how much of the drama was autobiographical and how much was not- these and many other bits of minor history are all nice to have. Unfortunately, ""8(apple)"", a work complex in form and ambiguous in content, is here clarified in neither realm. The overall impression, besides the vagueness, is one of (unintentional no doubt) triviality. Nor does the playfulness (as described) of Fellini add up to the intellectual's image of him: that of a prime runner in the current cinema d'auteur sweepstakes.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1964

Categories: NONFICTION