#524: Amarcord

Directed by: FEDERICO FELLINI
1973, TSPDT Rank #77

The most famous film of Fellini's later period, Amarcord is a free-flowing stream of nostalgia much like Satyricon is a free-flowing stream of Roman decadence. This film's sense of nostalgia is so potent that the images, events, and characters may feel instantly familiar to the viewer, even to those who have never seen it before. It's a film to be enjoyed and cherished - humorous, earthy, beautiful and permeated with a feeling of a faraway place in time. Fellini presents this remembrance of his childhood in Rimini in the episodic style which had become his trademark by this point in his career: characters float in and out, seasons come and go, situations arise and then pass like visions seen through a fog. The end result is a moving and unprententious film - clearly realized, but hard to pin down. In other words, Amarcord is a shining example of the merits to be found in Fellini's later work.