Persistence of Vision

8 1/2 (1963)

Starring: Marcello Mastroantonioni Directed by: Frederico Fellini Rating: NR Genre: Drama Other

Review Frederico Fellini is justly known as a brilliant filmmaker and an Italian - though not exclusively. And 8 1/2 is undoubtedly his masterpiece. 8 1/2 (so-called because multiplying 8 by 3 (the trinity of the father, the son and the holy ghost) yields 24 - the magic number of frames-per-second that a modern film runs through the projector to produce persistence of vision to the normal eye. (The europeans use a different version, known as CSPAN). And the other half? Ah, that's Fellini's "secret sauce" - Women! Fellini sees himself as only "half" a man, without a woman to complete him. But he's confused because when he adds up all of these various halves who populate his complicated life, they add up to... 8 1/2! Complicated? Perhaps. Brilliant. Undoubtedly! I would suggest that you leave the subtitles on, unless you speak Italian, but even if you do you'll find the running commentary almost as unforgettable as the movie itself. Bellissima! Enjoy!