Ep 17 // 8 ½

It’s Jeremiah’s 3rd pick: 8 1⁄2, the 1963 film directed by Federico Fellini.

8 1⁄2 was Fellini’s feature film follow-up to 1960s La Dolce Vita – with a segment for an anthology film produced in the interim. La Dolce Vita had been something of an international sensation when it came out, so perhaps the pressure of following that up led him to produce a film about the pressure on a director to make his next movie.

It was released in February 1963 to much acclaim, especially from European critics, drawing comparisons to James Joyce’s Ulysses and Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane along the way. It then opened in the United States in June of that year, where it also earned mostly praise, but for a few critics (Pauline Kael among the detractors). And it ended up winning two Academy Awards, for Best Foreign Film and Best Costume Design (Black and White), while it was also nominated for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Art Direction.

As for our purposes, 8 1⁄2 was first on the Sight & Sound critics survey in 1972, ranked as the 4th greatest film of all time. It Was then at number 5 in 1982, fell off the list in 1992, reentered at #9 in 2002 and ended up at #10 in 2012. Meanwhile, it’s been on the directors survey each time they’ve had one so far, at #2 in 1992, at #3 in 2002, and then at #4 in 2012.

Produced by Stereoactive Media