Four By Fellini - Saytricon, City of Women, And the Ship Sailed on, Amarcord

106. Saytricon (1968) Fellini. Based on the Roman novel by Petronius. Fantasy about two gay Roman lovers and their various adventures. Full of grotesque, sometimes beautiful, sometimes interesting, images. Held my interest at first, primarily due to the images and great sets. But the characters are shallow and dull - as is the meandering, episodic story. Images aren't enough especially when the sexual imagery - isn't sexy. I want my Roman Decadence with beautiful young babes - not fat old men, and Gay Romans. Rating **

City of Women - Man what a disappointment. I was hoping some of the criticism was politically motivated (its supposedly Anti-feminist) but no its just a bad movie. Of course, with Fellini there are always a few good scenes and striking images. The acting is good, but the story is so disjointed, repetitive, and goofy its hard to care.

And the Ship Sailed On - A quirky fable, about a group of European aristocrats aboard a luxurious ocean liner. I loved the look of this film and the story. As usual, with Fellini you get some major league weirdness and some scenes that don't work but in this case its counterbalanced by some very good ones. I enjoyed this much more than the tedious, repetitive Satyricon and the vulgar, uneven Amarcord. A must see. ****

Amarcord - I liked this better the 2nd time round, since I didn't have my hopes up. The vulgarity seemed less grating this time and *most* of it is quite warm and funny although sometimes the family seemed like a collection of Italian stereotypes. Like all comedies, you wonder how much you're missing if you don't speak the native tongue. Some say this is Fellini's best movie, I'd place it behind Variety Nights, 8 1/2, La Dolce Vita, I Vitelloni and Nights of Cabiria.