LA DOLCE VITA

Federico Fellini's 1960 film 'La Dolce Vita' is a often hailed as a masterpiece, though like many of Fellini's films it probably has as many detractors as fans. The film is certainly too long and drifting for most modern audiences, but nearly every scene is exciting in its own way (even if those scenes rarely 'add up' in the way we expect).

The plot of the film is as close to novelistic as any movie you're likely to see. The narrative is loose, as 'La Dolce Vita' attempts to capture the scope of an entire life instead of strictly a series of events. Marcello Mastroianni plays Marcello Rubini, an entertainment journalist. Rubini is part of the high living celebrity world, but only in that he waits in prey on its fringes. Rubini is nearly always accompanied by a swarm of photographers, and it depicts them so well that the term 'paparazzi' was borne of the film, a play on one of the photographers' name.

Rubini longs to write a novel, to make more of an impact on the world and his own soul than trash journalism allows. However, he finds it nearly impossible to succeed. The pull of the upper crust (and especially, especially its women, for Rubini is a playboy to a fault) is a constant obstacle.

Of course, this synopsis is like describing a house by humming the tune of its doorbell. Fellini packs so much into the film that each memory of its viewing yields new information and insight.

On the potentially off-putting side, 'La Dolce Vita' clocks in at very nearly three hours in length, and (true to form) Fellini seems to have put very minimal effort into syncing recorded dialogue to the movements of the actors' mouths. In addition, the film's culminating statement may be that life is unbearably empty and sad, no matter to which social rung you climb.

Whether 'La Dolce Vita' is an immortal masterpiece will remain a cinephilic debate. Is the movie dull at times? Yes. But is it astoundingly ambitious, multi-layered, and affecting? Yes.

So is the film worth checking out or not, Mr. Reviewer? The answer is a resounding...

MAYBE SO (7/10)