Federico Fellini: Contemporary Perspectives.(Book Review)

Publication: The Modern Language Review

Publication Date: 01-OCT-03

Bookmark this article Print this article Link to this article Email this article Digg It! Add to del.icio.us RSS

COPYRIGHT 2003 Modern Humanities Research Association

Federico Fellini: Contemporary Perspectives. Ed. by FRANK BURKE and MARGUERITE R. WALLER. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 2002. xxxii+239 pp. 42 [pounds sterling] (pbk 15 [pounds sterling]). ISBN 0-8020-0696-5 (pbk 0-8020-7647-5).

Fellini's influence upon contemporary film directors remains considerable, despite an uneven cinematic output. He was arguably at his best while he drew on his early experiences of provincial and urban life, and incorporated the acerbic, observational humour of co-writers Tullio Pinelli and Ennio Flaiano into his screenplays. By contrast, the second half of Fellini's career is characterized by a whimsical excess caused by his estrangement from Pinelli and Flaiano, and also by his rather stagnant, cosseted existence as an established director. This paucity of fresh life experiences prompted him to cannibalize existing literary works or recycle his own dreams and fantasies, some of which were decades old, into film projects. Consequently, most overviews of Fellini's filmography reveal...

Read the full article for free courtesy of your local library.