Editor Reviews:

Description:
One of the greatest films about film ever made, Federico Fellini's 8 1/2 (Otto e Mezzo) turns one man's artistic crisis into a grand epic of the cinema. Guido Anselmi (Marcello Mastroianni) is a director whose film-and life-is collapsing around him. An early working title for the film was La Bella Confusione (The Beautiful Confusion), and Fellini's masterpiece is exactly that: a shimmering dream, a circus, and a magic act. The Criterion Collection is proud to present the 1963 Academy Award® winner for Best Foreign-Language Film-one of the most written about, talked about, and imitated movies of all time-in a beautifully restored new digital transfer. Disc two features Fellini's rarely seen first film for television, Fellini: A Director's Notebook (1969). Produced by Peter Goldfarb, this imagined documentary of Fellini is a kaleidoscope of unfinished projects, all of which provide a fascinating and candid window into the director's unique and creative process.

Amazon.com essential video:
Federico Fellini's 1963 semi-autobiographical story about a worshipped filmmaker who has lost his inspiration is still a mesmerizing mystery tour that has been quoted (Woody Allen's Stardust Memories, Paul Mazursky's Alex in Wonderland) but never duplicated. Marcello Mastroianni plays Guido, a director trying to relax a bit in the wake of his latest hit. Besieged by people eager to work with him, however, he also struggles to find his next idea for a film. The combined pressures draw him within himself, where his recollections of significant events in his life and the many lovers he has left behind begin to haunt him. The marriage of Fellini's hyperreal imagery, dreamy sidebars, and the gravity of Guido's increasing guilt and self-awareness make this as much a deeply moving, soulful film as it is an electrifying spectacle. Mastroianni is wonderful in the lead, his woozy sensitivity to Guido's freefall both touching and charming--all the more so as the character becomes increasingly divorced from the celebrity hype that ultimately outpaces him. --Tom Keogh

Rating : - The Delightful Confusion.....
"The movie business is macabre. Grotesque. It is a combination of a football game and a brothel". Fellini, from the book Fellini on Fellini.

Round and round we go with this film, one of the greatest films ever made, one of my top 10 films, and arguably Fellini's greatest work, or close to it (La Dolce Vita is as good as this one). It's the film where Fellini went into surrealism and dreams and never went back. It's also one of the greatest films ever made about filmmaking and the artistic process. Despite being a cinema person, I don't like films about the business, as they become so esoteric (especially films made about Hollywood) that they are far too "inside" for most. The Hollywood films (especially ones of recent vintage) give the impression that only in Hollywood are there problems on film sets, and that making films is difficult. Problems exist on all films sets. That's life. 8 1/2 is not esoteric. It's a universal film.

We see Guido, a famously successful film director, who is suffering from creative block, a ballooning budget on a film he doesn't want to make, martial problems, mistress problems, health problems, etc., etc.. At times, it's hard to tell what's real and what's imaginary, but you're ultimately not to supposed to know what's real and what's imaginary. This causes much confusion at times, but it's supposed to be, and it works magically. The film is really striking for many reasons. Its excellent pace, wonderful, crisp photography, great performances, its unforgettable imagery, and one of the greatest endings in the history of cinema.

For those who don't know, Fellini called this 8 1/2 because, according to him, it was his "8 1/2th" film. He co-directed his first film (which he counted as half), and made 7 features up until this one. Despite being made over 40 years ago, the film hasn't dated and remains, rightfully so, on many greatest films ever made lists.