Product: The Magic of Fellini (2002)
Rating: 3.0
Might be okay as an introduction...
Anyone looking for an in-depth study of Fellini and his films, for new insights into his life and work, will surely be disappointed by this brief biopic. For the most part, "The Magic of Fellini", which has a run time of 55 minutes, consists of interviews with various people who were close to the director in some way or another: personal assistants, assistant directors, set designers, friends as well as the actors who worked with him, Italian film critics and producers. Incidentally, the cover notes that the biopic stars Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen; the notice is misleading since the Woody Allen clip is about a whole half minute long and Scorsese, though eloquent, appears for only slightly longer. There is some archival footage of Fellini himself, speaking about his films, but these clips are relatively brief and some of them will be familiar to anyone who has seen "Federico Fellini's Autobiography", originally broadcast on Italian television.Aside from the interviews (of which the ones with Anthony Quinn and Donald Sutherland are the most amusing) there is some footage of Fellini working on set and going through the casting process. The films discussed the most include La Strada, La Dolce Vita and 8 . However, they are covered only very superficially and in a seemingly haphazard manner, not really shedding much light on the importance of these works. The unique partnership between Fellini and Nino Rota is discussed, as well as the partnership between Fellini and Marcello Mastroianni and these pieces are interesting, if brief. What emerges about Fellini from the documentary is that he was an enormously creative man, spontaneous (often his actors would have absolutely no idea about the dialogue or the context of scenes and he would feed them the lines as the shooting went on) and in love with his work.Clips from such Fellini films as 8 , Amarcord, Nights of Cabiria and Roma are interspersed throughout this documentary. As such, "The Magic of Fellini" may be a great gift to give to someone who is not familiar with the director's work - it might serve as a nice introduction, a way of piquing the curiosity of someone who has never seen these gems. However, for Fellini fans this documentary will probably be too superficial to be of real interest.