Nine (2009)
CineMark Valley View
Saturday, December 26, 2009 - 7 p.m.
Genre: Drama, Musical, 119 minutes
Director: Rob Marshall ( Chicago )
USA – English without subtitles
Rated PG-13, for sexual content and smoking.

Nine is a vibrant and provocative musical that follows the life of world famous film director Guido Contini – read Fellini here - (Daniel Day-Lewis) as he reaches a creative and personal crisis of epic proportion, while balancing the numerous women in his life including his wife (Marion Cotillard), his mistress (Penelope Cruz), his film star muse (Nicole Kidman), his confidant and costume designer (Judi Dench), a young American fashion journalist (Kate Hudson), the whore from his youth (Stacy “Fergie” Ferguson) and his mother (Sophia Loren).

The original 1982 Broadway production of Nine was based on Federico Fellini’s classic film/autobiography, 8½, that we saw earlier as part of the Fellini Film Festival @ Cinematheque. The Broadway show was nominated for 12 Tony Awards and winning five, including Best Musical, was directed by Tommy Tune, choreographed by Thommie Walsh, starred Raúl Juliá with music and lyrics by Maury Yeston and book by Arthur Kopit. The 2003 Broadway revival of Nine received eight Tony Award nominations and won two, including Best Revival of a Musical.

The film is scheduled to be released in the United States on December 18, in New York City and Los Angeles, and on Christmas Day, December 25 world-wide. This timing will make it a contender for Academy Awards in March.

http://www.playbill.com/images/photo/n/i/ninemovie460a.jpg

Judging from the trailers, Nine is wall-to-wall babes, lush photography, great choreography and lots of singing. It might be just what the winter needs: a hot, exuberant, all-singing, all-dancing fantastic spectacle! It is a welcome recess following the Christmas holiday. Consider this a mini-vacation before returning to the real world next week.

Nine Trailer 1

Nine Trailer 2

Nine Trailer 3

http://www.playbill.com/images/photo/n/i/ninemovie460c.jpg

7 p.m. the Movie - Nine
CineMark Valley View, 6001 Canal Road.
Meet at the entrance door 15 minutes ahead of time or look for the group inside the theater. DO NOT ARRIVE LATE! This will be well attended so it is advisable to arrive early or purchase tickets on-line to avoid missing the start. We will sit in the upper level, center. This film will be the HOT TICKET this weekend, so a large attendance is expected. The flick is 119 minutes, so expect to be out around 9 p.m. You may also meet us afterward outside the entrance door. If you RSVP, we will wait for you. If you do not have a photo posted, you will have to find us.

We have multiple meeting places: 1. Entrance door to the movie in the theater hallway 5-10 minutes before the movie starts, 2. By the Marquee (or entrance door) after the movie, or 3. Reserved table at a restaurant under the name "Movie Group".

9 p.m. The After Party @ LockKeepers
Considering the starting time of 7 p.m., we will have plenty of time for a leisurely meal, wine and discussion nearby at LockKeepers (8001 Rockside Road at Canal Road in Valley View, 216.524.9404). Its ideal, a short 1-minute drive from the theater.
LockKeepers has added an incentive for dinner. We will be treated to complementary appetizers with the purchase of an entrée. Last time we were there LockKeepers overwhelmed us with what seemed to be unending appetizers; shrimp, crab cakes, mussels, tuna tartaro, and sausage stuffed peppers - all complementary. amazing! The entrées were equally excellent!….

Please let us know your dinner plans on your RSVP so that we can either save you a seat at the "Movie Group" table or plan to meet you at the movie. We have asked for separate checks but please bring cash to pay for your meal.

This group has been successful partly because members have a genuine interest in meeting fellow independent movie goers for a discussion before or after the film. We don't always know where to look for you, especially those without a profile picture and first timers. It’s very important to RSVP early and cancel your dinner reservations if you can’t attend. Please be respectful of the Organizers and the Restaurants we patronize.

Plot

Having reached the age of 40, director Guido Contini (Fellini) is facing a midlife crisis that is stifling his creativity and leading him into a variety of complicated romantic involvements. As he struggles to complete his latest film, he is forced to balance the numerous formative women in his life, including his wife Luisa, his mistress Carla, his film star muse Claudia, his confidant and costume designer Liliane, an American fashion journalist, the whore from his youth, and his mother.

http://www.playbill.com/images/photo/n/i/ninemovie225c.jpg

Nine, a remake of Federico Fellini’s 8½. Not only has Kate Hudson been added to the already-magnificent cast of Nine, a film adaptation of the award-winning musical, but the role and a song were added to the movie specifically for her.

http://www.playbill.com/images/photo/n/i/ninemovie460b.jpg

The musical, inspired by Federico Fellini’s 8½, is said to be "sultry and enchanting," and the same could be said about most of the cast members. Daniel Day-Lewis plays "world famous film director Guido Contini as he prepares his latest picture and balances the numerous women in his life."
The women playing Contini's women? They include Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard, Judi Dench, Sophia Loren, Penélope Cruz, and now Kate Hudson.

http://www.playbill.com/images/photo/n/i/ninemoviefeat200b.jpg

Of his new cast addition, director Rob Marshall remarked, "It's wonderful having Kate join this extraordinary cast! Her revelatory skills as a singer and a dancer lead to the creation of the role of 'Stephanie,' a fashion reporter from Vogue working in Italy. An exciting new song, written by our composer Maury Yeston, has been added for her as well."

http://www.playbill.com/images/photo/n/i/ninemovie225b.jpg

Reviews

Playbill.com fades in on the new Nine film, talking to Marshall, Kidman, Loren, Cruz, Cotillard, Day-Lewis, Dench, Tolkin and more.

It took 26 years to bring Chicago to the screen and only 17 years for Nine, so some progress is being made, figures Rob Marshall, who helmed both movie musicals and pushed Chicago toward the Oscar-winner's circle for Best Picture of 2002, bringing the entire genre back in fashion. Nine is riding that wave of resurgence this holiday season — opening December 18 in New York City and Los Angeles and nationally on Christmas Day — so naturally he's hoping for a second strike of artistic lightning. That hasn't been easy to anticipate. "I couldn't find anything to do right after Chicago so I did Memoirs of a Geisha," he says. "Musicals are part of who I am. It's just in my blood, so I was really searching, looking at anything, thinking about remakes, what hasn't been brought to film from stage, what's there still out there." Then, he hit upon the Italian for "Eureka!"

http://www.playbill.com/images/photo/n/i/ninefilmfeat225.jpg

"One of the great things about Nine for me is that, in its DNA, is Fellini's 8½, of course — that's what it's inspired by and based on," he notes. "Fellini's work moves between reality and fantasy and memory — seamlessly — and that's what you try and do in a musical. For me, it was helpful for me to have that already built into the fabric of the piece so I could start seeing how the numbers could take place and be shaped. I think it's important these days in film to really have a strong conceptual plan so you can understand why people sing. That's not easy."

"Well," he says, taking in a big gulp of air before explaining himself, "when you go into a theatre, you're in a false place anyway. Under the proscenium, you accept the fact that when people sing it's not jarring remotely because you're in an unrealistic place. Film is such a realistic medium that you have to be careful. I've seen musicals on film where it's really awkward when people begin to sing and it's not organic so I think it's important — especially now — to find a way into the music that seemed right. Having Guido and Guido's fantasies as part of the piece was a natural way in."

Guido Contini of Nine is haunted by the ghosts of Guido Anselmi of 8½, — Marcello Mastroianni impersonating a fictional facsimile of Federico Fellini as a filmmaker stumbling toward a shooting date without a script or, indeed, a creative clue in his head. What's in his head is a dense and dizzying procession of the women in his life — women he has used, abused and loved.

Read the full review on playbill: Nine

http://cm1.theinsider.com/media/0/117/9/penelope_cruz.0.0.0x0.400x400.jpeg

Cherry Blossoms - Kirschblüten, Hanami
Germany, 2009, Directed by Doris Dörrie
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Sunday, December 13 at 1:30 p.m.
35 mm Color (extreme), English and German with English subtitles.

Winner of the Roxanne T. Mueller Award at the 2009 Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF)- Audience Choice Award for Best Film at the 2009 Festival.

Cherry Blossoms is one of the most moving films you are ever likely to see. If you missed it at the CIFF last year, then you have another opportunity now. It’s an unforgettable film, a consistently surprising story of loss, regret, and rebirth.

The sudden death of his wife plunges a terminally ill man into profound grief. Realizing how little he knew her and how little he showed her his affection, he devotes his last weeks to fulfilling her long-cherished dreams.

Only Trudi knows that her husband Rudi is suffering from a terminal illness. It is up to her to tell him or not. The doctor suggests that they do something together, perhaps something they were long planning to do… Trudi decides not to tell her husband about the gravity of his illness and to follow the doctor´s advice. She convinces Rudi to visit their children and grandchildren in Berlin. But once they arrive, they realize that their children are so busy with their own lives that they have no time for them.

Then, suddenly, Trudi dies. Rudi is devastated and has no idea what to do next. From his daughter´s girlfriend he learns that Trudi´s love for him had led her to forgo the life that she had wanted to live. He begins to see her with new eyes and vows to make up for her lost life. And so, he embarks on his last journey - to Tokyo, in the midst of the cherry blossom festival, a celebration of beauty, impermanence and new beginnings…

One of Germany’s foremost filmmakers, multiple award-winning director Doris Dörrie reconfirms her exceptional talent with this tender, emotionally intense and profoundly moving story of marital love.

Here are some comments from Indie Group members who attended our event last June: “I absolutely loved this movie, it was wonderful! It was very moving and thought-provoking... .if you get a chance to see it sometime, better bring some tissues!” “Fabulous film, fine food - couldn't ask for more.” “The film that special indescribable quality that is so rare in modern cinema. This was my third time and there will be a fourth. The critical part of any Meetup event is the after-party discussion. Ours was excellent thanks to the folks who were there! Pacific East was superb.”

1:30 p.m. Cherry Blossoms
Meet at the entrance door 10 minutes ahead of time or look for the group inside the theater. We will try to save seats in the middle, center. This film has been so popular a large attendance is expected. The flick is 126 minutes, so expect to be out around 3:40 p.m. You may also meet us afterward outside the entrance door. If you RSVP, we will wait for you.

We are forecasting a full theater for this showing. You should plan on arriving at the Art Museum lobby early to purchase your tickets. Please note that this is being shown at the Cleveland Museum of Art – not Cinematheque.

We have multiple meeting places: 1. Entrance door to the movie in the theater hallway 5-10 minutes before the movie starts, 2. By the Marquee (or entrance door) after the movie, or 3. Reserved table at a restaurant under the name "Movie Group".

4 p.m. Eats @ Pacific East
Considering the early starting time (1:30 p.m.), we will have plenty of time for a leisurely meal at a nearby Japanese establishment. Pacific East (1763 Coventry Road, 216.320.2302) is an ideal spot. It's a short 10 minute drive from the theater. Street parking or a covered garage just south on Coventry (bring quarters). The restaurant is located at Mayfield Road and Coventry in Cleveland Heights.

Pacific East has added an incentive for dinner. We will be treated to complementary appetizers (chef’s selection) with the purchase of an entrée. If you like Japanese or Malaysian cuisine this spot is perfect.

Please let us know your dinner plans on your RSVP so that we can either save you a seat at the "Movie Group" table or plan to meet you at the movie. We have asked for separate checks but please bring cash to pay for your meal. If you don't see us when you walk in, ask to be seated with the Movie Group.

This group has been successful partly because members have a genuine interest in meeting fellow independent movie goers for a discussion before or after the film. We don't always know where to look for you, especially those without a profile picture and first timers. It’s very important to RSVP early and cancel your dinner reservations if you can’t attend. Please be respectful of the Organizers and the Restaurants we patronize.

We don't always sit together in the movie theater but if you see a bunch of people talking about good movies they have seen, it is probably us. Please join in. We are always happy to get new people involved.

http://www.strandreleasing.com/media/CherryBlossoms_key3_%7BF3D0B9CF-8D63-4660-B24F-9940BCB83BDA%7D.jpg

DESCRIPTION
Doris Dörrie's Cherry Blossoms has two original titles, one in German: Kirschblüten, which means cherry blossoms, and another in Japanese: Hanami, which doesn't.

The Japanese equivalent to the English and German titles would be sakura; hanami is a national ceremony/celebration/holiday of WATCHING the blossoms open. Dating back to the 8th century, hanami is an event without parallel outside Japan.
http://www.mountainx.com/images/movieimages/042209cherry-blossoms.jpg
The difference between the titles is a subtle, but meaningful message. Just as the blossoms in themselves are different from the veritable cult surrounding them in Japan, Dörrie's characters live in two different worlds, acting differently, first clashing (similarly to Lost in Translation ) and then - somewhat mysteriously - cohere. With this complex, effective, and moving story, Dörrie, who has spent more than three decades writing and directing "interesting and different" films of varying quality, has reached a pinnacle of her career. (She owes a debt of gratitude to Yasujiro Ozu, especially his Tokyo Story. )

"Germans and Japanese," Dörrie has said, "are really very much alike — incredibly repressed and very irrational at the same time." This vague and rather ridiculous generalization actually seems to come to life in Cherry Blossoms.

One of Germany's best-known TV stars, Elmar Wepper, appears in his first movie role, and he nails the character of Rudi Angermeier, a cartoonishly ordinary man on an extraordinary journey. Unknown to him, he is near the end of his life, as he slowly, believably emerges from a stolid German middle-class life of unvariable routine to traverse distance and radically different cultures, all the way to Mount Fuji, dancing Butoh.

There are two remarkable co-stars along Rudi's adventure: his wife, Trudi, played by the glamorous actress Hannelore Elsner, appearing heroically unglamorous here to fit the role of a plain housefrau; and Aya Irizuki as Yu.

Yu is one of those rare cinematic creations, a character you may not understand, but one who will stay with you. This waif, runaway, street artist is as bizarre a representative of Japan as - going back to Lost in Translation again - Bill Murray's Premium Fantasy woman (Rip my stockings! ) and yet she also evokes Giulietta Masina's character in La Strada, a couple of continents away.

Watching Rudi and Yu under the cherry blossoms, with the strangely elusive Mount Fuji in the background finally peeking out from behind the clouds, is among the more memorable scenes in contemporary cinema. – janos451, Rebirth Under the Cherry Trees, 16 January 2009 - from the Internet Movie Database.

http://www.cia.edu/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/cherryblossoms2.jpg
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MOVIE LINKS:
Movie Reviews.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cherry_blossoms_hanami

Cleveland Museum of Art Panorama Series, 11150 East Blvd. http://www.clevelandart.org/events/film.aspx

PARKING: They have a (attended) parking garage. There is also street parking.

Cinematheque, Cleveland Institute of Art, 11141 East Blvd. http://www.cia.edu/academicResources/cinematheque/filmSchedule.php?action=extended

PARKING: They have a free parking lot. This is a one-minute walk from the Museum of Art.

FEE
Goes toward charges incurred for using the MeetUp website. You can access PayPal or pay your fee to the Organizer at the event.

NOTE TO FIRST TIMERS: If this is your first movie with the group, there is no fee to attend.

NOTE TO ALL: In the world of Independent films, it is recommended that you check back a few days before the event to make sure the movie, restaurant, location or time has not changed.

Tonight the Cinemateque is pleased to bring back the shot-for-shot remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark that was first showed in 2007. Coming with it are Chris Strompolos and Eric Zala, two of the three filmmakers who made this almost inconceivably ambitious feature when they were teenagers growing up in Mississippi in the 1980s.

The result (which Harry Knowles of Ain’t It Cool News has called “the best damn fan film I’ve ever seen”) has won them international attention and acclaim, and even a face-to-face meeting with Raiders director Steven Spielberg, who proclaimed their movie wonderful. The hundreds of moviegoers who saw it at the Cinematheque in 2007 would heartily agree. The cost is $12 or $8 for members. This would be an excellent time to consider joining.

6:30 EATS
Join us for a leisurely bite to eat at the Uptowne Grill. It is easiest to park free at the Cinematheque, walk across Bellflower Road and take the path next to Harkness Chapel. Uptowne is across the street on Euclid Ave.

Please let us know your dinner plans on your RSVP so that we can either save you a seat at the "Movie Group" table or plan to meet you at the movie. Checks are processed in groups of 2 or 3 so please bring CASH to pay for your meal.

If you don't see us when you walk in, ask to be seated with the Movie Group.

8:15 PRESENTATION AND MOVIE
Meet at the ENTRANCE DOOR 10 minutes ahead of time or look for the group inside the theater or meet us afterward outside the entrance door in the lobby.

http://www.readtheloop.com/wp-content/uploads//2008/06/raiders-adaptation.jpg

DESCRIPTION
Shooting on VHS in their basements and backyards, and working with a cast of friends, family, and pets, Strompolos, Zala and Jayson Lamb did everything on this labor-of-love. They acted, built sets, sewed costumes, scrounged props, performed stunts, and risked physical injury. They started production when they were 12 years old and worked on it for the next seven years! The two men will reveal how they made their film against great odds—and equally incredibly, how it came to be discovered and shown all over the world, engendering the praise of Eli Roth, Quentin Tarantino, and ultimately Steven Spielberg himself.

REVIEW
"You forget you're watching a skillful teenage re-enactment and start seeing it simply as Raiders of the Lost Ark, with different faces, and seen through fresh eyes."
http://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=11655&reviewer=416

FEE
Goes toward charges incurred for using the MeetUp website. You can access PayPal or pay your fee to the Organizer at the event.
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MOVIE LINKS:

Cleveland Cinemas (Cedar Lee), Cleveland Heights, 2163 Lee Road. http://www.clevelandcinemas.com/cinemadrilldown.asp?intCin=2921

PARKING: Paid Parking is now 24 X 7, so bring a couple of quarters. Credit cards work in the garage. A free parking lot is on Edgewood road, one block west of Lee road at Cedar.

Jimmy O'Neils (after movie discussions) Cleveland Heights, 2195 Lee Road. A half-block south of the Cedar Lee on the same side of the road.

Cinematheque, Cleveland Institute of Art, 11141 East Blvd. http://www.cia.edu/academicResources/cinematheque/filmSchedule.php?action=extended

PARKING: They have a free parking lot.

Cleveland Museum of Art Panorama Series, 11150 East Blvd. http://www.clevelandart.org/events/film.aspx

PARKING: They have an attendant parking garage. There is also street parking.

Movie Reviews. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/

NOTE TO FIRST TIME GOERS: If this is your first movie with the group, there is no fee to attend.

This group has been successful partly because members have a genuine interest in meeting fellow independent movie goers. We don't always know where to look for you, especially first timers.

We have multiple meeting places: 1. Entrance door to the movie in the theater hallway 5-10 minutes before the movie starts, 2. By the Marquee (or entrance door) after the movie, or 3. Reserved table at a restaurant under the name "Movie Group".

We don't always sit together in the movie theater but if you see a bunch of people talking about good movies they have seen, it is probably us. Please join in. We are always happy to get new people involved.

NOTE TO ALL: In the world of Independent films, it is recommended that you check back a few days before the event to make sure the movie, restaurant, location or time has not changed.

An Education has been getting spectacular reviews. Amazingly, no conventional theater is showing it even though it is being talked about as a potential best picture nominee. I feel bad for all those people who will never have the opportunity to see it because it is a solid movie either way.

5:30 EATS
Since Friday is a holiday for some, we will meet a bit earlier to have a more leisurely meal. If you are still ull from Thanksgiving festivities, come for either an appetizer, light meal or full taste of food. Parking is plentiful nearby and is walkable to the theater.

Please let us know your dinner plans on your RSVP so that we can either save you a seat at the "Movie Group" table or plan to meet you at the movie. Checks are processed in groups of 2 or 3 so please bring CASH to pay for your meal.

If you don't see us when you walk in, ask to be seated with the Movie Group.

7:15 MOVIE
Meet at the ENTRANCE DOOR 5 minutes ahead of time or look for the group inside the theater or meet us afterward outside the entrance door in the lobby.

AFTER MOVIE DISCUSSION
Jimmy's is a block away south of the Cedar Lee. This topic should be interesting.

http://media.silive.com/entertainment_impact_tvfilm/photo/edujpg-d3c642db573a6a77_large.jpg

DESCRIPTION
It's 1961 and attractive, bright 16-year-old schoolgirl, Jenny (Carey Mulligan) is poised on the brink of womanhood, dreaming of a rarefied, Gauloise-scented existence as she sings along to Juliette Greco in her Twickenham bedroom.

Meanwhile, she's a diligent student, excelling in every subject except the Latin that her father is convinced will land her the place she dreams of at Oxford University. One rainy day, her suburban life is upended by the arrival of an unsuitable suitor, 30- ish David (Peter Sarsgaard). Urbane and witty, David instantly unseats Jenny's stammering schoolboy admirer, Graham (Matthew Beard). To her frank amazement, he even manages to charm her conservative parents Jack (Alfred Molina) and Marjorie (Cara Seymour), and effortlessly overcomes any instinctive objections to their daughter's older, Jewish suitor.

Just as the family's long-held dream of getting their brilliant daughter into Oxford seems within reach, Jenny is tempted by another kind of life.

Will David be the making of Jenny or her undoing?

REVIEW
An Education argues that life -- and the human heart -- are far too complicated merely to be studied. They need to be experienced.
http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1305908.html

FEE
Goes toward charges incurred for using the MeetUp website. You can access PayPal or pay your fee to the Organizer at the event.
*************************************************

MOVIE LINKS:

Cleveland Cinemas (Cedar Lee), Cleveland Heights, 2163 Lee Road. http://www.clevelandcinemas.com/cinemadrilldown.asp?intCin=2921

PARKING: Paid Parking is now 24 X 7, so bring a couple of quarters. Credit cards work in the garage. A free parking lot is on Edgewood road, one block west of Lee road at Cedar.

Jimmy O'Neils (after movie discussions) Cleveland Heights, 2195 Lee Road. A half-block south of the Cedar Lee on the same side of the road.

Cinematheque, Cleveland Institute of Art, 11141 East Blvd. http://www.cia.edu/academicResources/cinematheque/filmSchedule.php?action=extended

PARKING: They have a free parking lot.

Cleveland Museum of Art Panorama Series, 11150 East Blvd. http://www.clevelandart.org/events/film.aspx

PARKING: They have an attendant parking garage. There is also street parking.

Movie Reviews. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/

NOTE TO FIRST TIME GOERS: If this is your first movie with the group, there is no fee to attend.

This group has been successful partly because members have a genuine interest in meeting fellow independent movie goers. We don't always know where to look for you, especially first timers.

We have multiple meeting places: 1. Entrance door to the movie in the theater hallway 5-10 minutes before the movie starts, 2. By the Marquee (or entrance door) after the movie, or 3. Reserved table at a restaurant under the name "Movie Group".

We don't always sit together in the movie theater but if you see a bunch of people talking about good movies they have seen, it is probably us. Please join in. We are always happy to get new people involved.

NOTE TO ALL: In the world of Independent films, it is recommended that you check back a few days before the event to make sure the movie, restaurant, location or time has not changed.

8½(1963)
Alternate Titles: Federico Fellini's 8½, Eight and A Half, Otto e Mezzo
at Cinematheque Saturday, November 21, at 7 p.m.
USA: 138 Minutes (restored version)
Directed by: Federico Fellini
Cast: Marcello Mastroianni, Anouk Aimee, Sandra Milo, Claudia Cardinale
Black & White
Genre: Drama, Romance - Italian with Subtitles
Significant historical importance

8½
Guido (Marcello Mastroianni) is a popular movie director who is working on his new film. Along the way, he struggles with his screenwriter, producer, wife, and mistress. Each presents a different problem and obstacle. More and more difficulties arise, not just in his attempts to complete the movie, but also in his own mind.

Guido, although flawed, is completely fleshed out, and draws sympathy from the audience. Yes, he is an adulterer, but he loves his wife. We see all of his personal desires and agony. We see how he suffers when he struggles with his desire to create the ultimate piece of art, one that offers something to everybody.

The movie is technically wonderful. The movement of the camera, the lighting, and the direction in general is top notch. The movie mixes in dreams with reality to create a dreamlike world, and put us closer into Guido's own mind.

Somebody who is looking for a movie as a two-hour piece of entertainment will not enjoy this. But, if you enjoy a movie that truly satisfies when it is finished, this is for you. It is quite long, and somewhat loose, but that is part of the interest. Moviemakers, or artists in general, will find that this film has a great deal to offer.

8½ is one of the most unique, fascinating, and personal pieces ever committed to film. It has consistently hailed as such, and its influence on film is far-reaching and undeniable. It is certainly not one of the most entertaining movies of all time, and is actually quite long and difficult.

However, it is an incredible piece of filmmaking, and a gripping look at the difficulties of creating not just a movie, but art in general.

The film enjoys a 97-percent Fresh rating (37 out of 38 reviews) on Rotten Tomatoes being positive.

http://www.moviemail-online.co.uk/images/large/fellini81.jpg

7 p.m. 8½ – Cinematheque
Meet in the Lobby 10 minutes ahead of time or look for the group inside the theater. We will try to save seats in the middle rows of the lower section, center. Seats in the lower section offer expanded legroom. The flick is almost 2½ hours, so expect to be out around 9:30 p.m.

Read Prof. John Springer’s academic paper on 8 ½

Review Summary ]
8½ (1963)
Roger Ebert / May 28, 2000

The conventional wisdom is that Federico Fellini went wrong when he abandoned realism for personal fantasy; that starting with La Dolce Vita (1959), his work ran wild through jungles of Freudian, Christian, sexual and autobiographical images. The precise observation in La Strada (1954) was the high point of his career, according to this view, and then he abandoned his neorealist roots. La Dolce Vita was bad enough, 8½ (1963) was worse, and by the time he made Juliet of the Spirits (1965), he was completely off the rails. Then all is downhill, in a career that lasted until 1987, except for Amarcord (1974), with its memories of Fellini's childhood; that one is so charming that you have to cave in and enjoy it, regardless of theory.

This conventional view is completely wrong. What we think of as Felliniesque comes to full flower in La Dolce Vita and 8½. His later films, except for Amarcord, are not as good, and some are positively bad, but they are stamped with an unmistakable maker's mark. The earlier films, wonderful as they often are, have their Felliniesque charm weighted down by leftover obligations to neorealism.

The critic Alan Stone, writing in the Boston Review, deplores Fellini's "stylistic tendency to emphasize images over ideas." I celebrate it. A filmmaker who prefers ideas to images will never advance above the second rank because he is fighting the nature of his art. The printed word is ideal for ideas; film is made for images, and images are best when they are free to evoke many associations and are not linked to narrowly defined purposes. Here is Stone on the complexity of 8½ : "Almost no one knew for sure what they had seen after one viewing." True enough. However, true of all great films, while you know for sure what you have seen after one viewing of a shallow one.

8½ is the best film ever made about filmmaking. It is told from the director's point of view, and its hero, Guido (Marcello Mastroianni), is clearly intended to represent Fellini. It begins with a nightmare of asphyxiation, and a memorable image in which Guido floats off into the sky, only to be yanked back to earth by a rope pulled by his associates, who are hectoring him to organize his plans for his next movie. Much of the film takes place at a spa near Rome, and at the enormous set Guido has constructed nearby for his next film, a science fiction epic he has lost all interest in.

The film weaves in and out of reality and fantasy. Some critics complained that it was impossible to tell what was real and what was taking place only in Guido's head, but I have never had the slightest difficulty, and there is usually a clear turning point as Guido escapes from the uncomfortable present into the accommodating world of his dreams.

I have seen 8½ over and over again, and my appreciation only deepens. It does what is almost impossible: Fellini is a magician who discusses, reveals, explains and deconstructs his tricks, while still fooling us with them. He claims he doesn't know what he wants or how to achieve it, and the film proves he knows exactly, and rejoices in his knowledge.

Read the full review: Ebert on Fellini.

FEE
Goes toward charges incurred for using the MeetUp website. You can access PayPal or pay your fee to the Organizer at the event.
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MOVIE LINKS:
Cinemateque, Cleveland Institute of Art, 11141 East Blvd. http://www.cia.edu/academicResources/cinematheque/filmSchedule.php?action=extended
PARKING: They have a free parking lot.

Movie Reviews. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/