Amarcord [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Director: Federico Fellini Federico Fellini

Overview

Amarcord is a mosaic of anecdotes based on the experiences of director, Federico Fellini. The film is set in the seaside Italian village of Amarcord, where the Fellini counterpart, young Titta (Bruno Zanin), grows up during the Fascist-dominated 1930s. Many familiar elements from Fellini's earlier films are still in evidence, including the ubiquitous fat whore who represents the director's sexual awakening. Among the best of the newer vignettes is the "living" parade float designed in the shape of Mussolini's face, and the sequence involving Titta's addlepated uncle (Ciccio Ingrassia) who perches himself in the treetops, screaming "I want a woman!" The most profound moments involve the death of Titta's mother (Puppela Maggio). Amarcord won the Academy Award for best foreign film of 1974.

Product Details

Release Date:	02/08/2011
UPC:	0715515068314
Original Release:	1973
Rating:	R
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	2:03:00
Sales rank:	11,739

Special Features

Restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack; Audio commentary by film scholars Peter Brunette and Frank Burke; Fellini's Homecoming, a 45-minute documentary on the complicated relationship between the celebrated director, his hometown, and his past; Video interview with star Magali Noël; Federico Fellini's drawings of characters in the film; "Felliniana," a presentation of ephemera devoted to Amarcord, from the collection of Don Young; Archival studio interviews with Fellini and his friends and familt, by longtime radio film critic Gideon Bachmann; Restoration demonstration; Deleted scene; American release trailer; Plus: a booklet featuring an essay by scholar Sam Rohdie and Fellini's 1967 essay "My Rimini"

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Bruno Zanin	Titta Biondi
Pupella Maggio	Miranda Biondi
Armando Brancia	Aurelio Biondi
Giuseppe Ianigro	Titta's Grandfather
Nando Orfei	Pataca
Ciccio Ingrassia	Uncel Teo
Gennaro Ombra	Bisein
Josiane Tanzilli	Volpina
Luigi Rossi	Lawyer
Maria Antonietta Beluzzi	Tobacconist
Gianfilipo Carcano	Don Baravelli,Don Baravelli
Ferruccio Brembilla	Fascist Leader
Dina Adorni	Math Teacher
Marcello di Falco	The Prince
Aristide Caporale	Giudizio
Alvaro Vitali	Naso
Bruno Scagnetti	Ovo
Bruno Lenzi	Gigliozzi
Francesca Vona	Candela
Donatella Gambini	Aldina
Franco Magno	Zeus
Mauro Misul	Philosophy Teacher
Mario Silvestri	Italian Teacher
Fides Stagni	Art Teacher
Mario Liberati	`Ronald Coleman,' Theater Owner
Domenico Pertica	Blindman
Antonino Faa' Di Brunco	Actor
Ferdinando Villella	Actor
Antonino Spaccatini	Actor
Stefano Proietti	Actor
Fernando De Felice	Actor
Gianfranco Marracco	Actor
Magali Noël	Gradisca
Marco Misul	Philosophy Teacher
Fernando Vona	Candela
Magali Noel	Actor
Nino Rota	Musician,Composer
Carlo Savina	Composer

Technical Credits

Federico Fellini

Tonino Guerra

Federico Fellini	Director,Screenwriter
Tonino Guerra	Screenwriter
Franco Cristaldi	Producer

Editorial Reviews

"Amarcord" is the phonetic translation of the Italian words "Mi Ricordo" (I remember) as pronounced in the dialect of Emilia-Romagna, the birthplace of director Federico Fellini and the setting of this wonderful film. Little surprise, then, that it is a poignant and bawdy semi-autobiographical coming-of-age tale, with an ethereal, dreamlike quality that combines sharply drawn memories with vividly engaging fantasy. Like William Wordsworth, Fellini implies that the child is father to the man, and Amarcord is a both a lament for and an homage to his hometown. Employing a picaresque style, Fellini expertly weaves the tales of a wild menagerie of characters in pre-WW II Italy. No mere sentimentalist, he also tackles the prickly issue of the emergence of Fascism. The film takes careful aim at fanatics, while conserving its empathy for the lost, questing, confused, and lonely individuals in its midst. The family at the center of it all, loosely based on Fellini's own, is a well-drawn melange of coarse, pathetic, colorful, clever, and cranky characters. While Fellini does not choose nostalgic sepia tones, he does shoot much of the film in muted colors that seem slightly out-of-focus, as if he were attempting to transport us into a dreamlike state. Blending scenes of pathos and humor, vulgar carnal desire and transcendent magical illumination (the peacock's standing in the newly fallen snow, spreading its magnificent plumage is this film's signature image), Amarcord won the lion's share of 1974's Best Foreign Film awards, including the New York Film Critics Circle, the National Board of Review, the Golden Globe, and the Academy Award, and it remains a triumph of personal filmmaking.

All Movie Guide - Dan Jardine