Amarcord

Dir: Federico Fellini, 1974, Italy (8.4*)

Best Foreign Film (AA)

This is probably Fellini’s most accessible film, as he fondly recalls his childhood through cinema, perhaps rose-colored by time and distance, but enjoyable nonetheless. Here he paints a vivid picture of rural Italy, or more accurately 'village life', how one’s life is shaped by religion, family, school, early friends, and adolescent fantasies and dreams. Here, Fellini’s fantasies and artistic style make a more universal connection as he avoids the fantastical surrealism and religious allegory that pervades his most famous film, 8½, and some others, making them too abstract and difficult for the mainstream filmgoer.