Oddly enough, I think the combination of the omniscient voice over, the lack of plot, the fact that fellini is in it (playing a director giving an interview talking about the movie), the shots of rome, etc- added up to some critics thinking this was some sort of pseudo-documentary- which is it definitely not.
There are, however, some gorgeous travelogue shots of rome that act as transitions between the vignettes
The film is a series of vignettes- I counted 6:
The dining on the street- fantastic
Highway in the rain- god awful- I don’t understand this at all- seems like a huge mistake for fellini- it literally makes him look like he was too lazy to wait for a sunny or non-raining day
Variety show- so-so
Subway construction- set pieces are nice but this is so-so as well
Brothel- superb
Pope fashion show- slightly above so-so because of the beautiful mise-en-scene and costume work
Like all latter Fellini it is a film of beautiful excess
Compared to some of his other works there’s less shots of tracking forward or backward with a character talking to main character (Marcello, or masina in Juliet) slightly off camera- this is one of the foremost stylistic trademarks of fellini
The film is live, vibrant, crying babies, overlapping dialogue, yelling, arguing, loud and crassness
Hundreds if not thousands of extras
His main characters here are really just empty vessels watching the spectacle around them
No plot at all which is fine with me
Very nostalgic- most of the vignettes are flashback to fellini’s memories era
Reminds me of woody’s radio days (1987) in almost every way
[…] Roma – Fellini […]
I’m positive that Highway scene was inspired by the one in Godard’s Weekend (which is a much better scene).