8 1/2 [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Marcello Mastroianni plays Guido Anselmi, a director whose new project is collapsing around him, along with his life. One of the greatest films about film ever made, Federico Fellinis 8 (Otto e mezzo) turns one mans artistic crisis into a grand epic of the cinema. An early working title for 8 was The Beautiful Confusion, and Fellinis masterpiece is exactly that: a shimmering dream, a circus, and a magic act.

DVD FEATURES:

• Number of Discs: 1
• Screen: Black and White
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 (Theatre Wide Screen)
• Features:
  • Introduction by Filmmaker Terry Gilliam
  • Audio Commentary Featuring Film Critic and Fellini Friend Gideon Bachmann and NYU Film Professor Antonio Monda
  • High-Definition Digital Transfer of a new Restoration of Fellini: A Director's Notebook, a 52 minute film by Federico Fellini
  • The Last Sequence, a 52-minute Documentary from 2003 on Fellini's lost alternate ending for 8 1/2
  • Nino Rota: Between Cinema and Concert, a 48-minute Documentary about Fellini's longtime composer
  • Interviews with Actress Sandra Milo, Director Lina Wertmuller, and Cinematographer Vittorio Storaro
  • Rare Photographs from Bachmann's Collection
  • Gallery of Behind-the-Scenes and Production Photos
  • U.S. Theatrical Trailer
  • New and Improved English Subtitle Translation
  • Plus: a Booklet featuring Writings by Fellini and Essays by Critics Tullio Kezich and Alexander Sesonske

AWARDS

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

•     Won Best Black and White Costume Design - 1963 (Piero Gherardi)
•     Won Best Foreign Language Film - 1963 (Federico Fellini)
•     Nominated Best Black and White Art Direction - 1963 (Piero Gherardi)
•     Nominated Best Director - 1963 (Federico Fellini)
•     Nominated Best Original Screenplay - 1963 (Federico Fellini, Brunello Rondi, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli)

• British Academy of Film and Television Arts

•     Nominated Best Film - Any Source - 1963 (Federico Fellini)

• Directors Guild of America

•     Nominated Best Director - 1963 (Federico Fellini)

• Moscow International Film Festival

•     Won Grand Prize - 1963

• National Board of Review

•     Won Best Foreign Film - 1963

• New York Film Critics Circle

•     Won Best Foreign Film - 1963

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Marcello Mastroianni - Guido Anselmi
       Claudia Cardinale - Claudia
       Anouk Aimee - Luisa Anselmi
       Sandra Milo - Carla
       Rossella Falk - Rossella
       Barbara Steele - Gloria Morin
       Neil Robinson - Agent for French actor
       Madeleine Le Beau - French Actress
       Eugene Walter - The Journalist
       Gilda Dahlberg - Journalist's Wife
       Annie Gorassini - Producer's Girl Friend
       Ian Dallas - Mindreader
       Guido Alberti - The Producer
       Mario Conocchia - Producer
       Cesarino Miceli Picardi - Production Inspector
       John Stacy - Accountant
       Mark Herron - Luisa's Admirer
       Rosellin Como - Friend
       Matilda Calnan - Older Journalist
       Eddra Gale - La Saraghina
       Georgia Simmons - Anselmi's grandmother
       Edy Vessel - Model
       Annibale Ninchi - Anselmi's Father
       Giuditta Rissone - Anselmi's Mother
       Caterina Boratto - Fashionable Woman

• Director:

  Federico Fellini

• Producer:

  Angelo Rizzoli

• Screenwriter:

  Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli, Brunello Rondi

• Cinematographer:

  Gianni Di Venanzo

• Composer (Music Score):

  Nino Rota

• Editor:

  Leo Cattozzo, Adrianna Olasio

• Production Designer:

  Piero Gherardi

• Costume Designer:

  Piero Gherardi

• Makeup:

  Otello Fava

• First Assistant Director:

  Lina Wertmüller

REVIEW:

• After his international smash La Dolce Vita (1960), Federico Fellini found himself saddled with a case of director's block, inspiring him to make 8 1/2 (1963), about fictional director Guido Anselmi's case of director's block, that made visible the intimate workings of creativity. To reveal Guido's state of mind as he struggles with his filmmaking and multiple demands on his private life, Fellini seamlessly interweaves Guido's activities, fantasies, memories and dreams, doing away with any semblance of straight linear narrative structure in favor of Guido's surreally scattered psyche. In so doing, Fellini, like playwright Luigi Pirandello, reflexively examines the artistic process itself; Guido's turmoil paradoxically brings Fellini's eighth-and-a-half feature (the half stood for two shorts), to fruition. Internationally hailed as an innovative masterpiece, and a commercial success, 8 1/2 won Fellini his third Oscar for Best Foreign Film and inspired a generation of filmmakers with the singularly personal artistry that could only be described by the adjective "Felliniesque." Bob Fosse's All That Jazz (1979) and Woody Allen's Stardust Memories (1980) were their own 8 1/2s; Nine was the 1982 Broadway musical version. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi