8½ (1963)
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this was a pleasant surprise after dolce vita. i liked ldv, but it was so constantly noisy it was kind of jarring experience. in this all the flashbacks and dream sequences were mostly nice long quiet spots to give a rest between the craziness. the wine-bath/painting-spell one really stood out to me. in all of them he had some incredibly smooth ways to transition between shots - i especially liked how he used people looking at the camera to transition.
the harem whipping one of course is an exception, as i didn’t appreciate how he tries to excuse his selfishness/misogyny by reveling in it. i did really appreciate the overall theme of honesty and what’s meaningful to say. a movie about making a movie and the device of the writer voicing intentions and critiques sounds annoying to me but the overall earnestness really drew me in.
it was funny to me when his mistress is sitting a few tables away and his wife is spewing venom at her - ‘pathetic whore!’ etc - and no one bats an eye. but then she calls her a cow and they all tell her to calm down. guess a cow’s the worst.
