Running Time: 129 minutesDirected By: Federico Fellini
Written By: Federico Fellini, Brunello Rondi, Bernardino Zapponi, from book by Petronius
Main Cast: Martin Potter, Hiram Keller, Max Born, Salvo Randone
FELLINI WEEK: 6 of 7
Well I realize that this has turned into "Fellini Weeks", but due to an overwhelming work schedule this past week, I was unable to get to the last to Fellini films before the end of September, which is what I had hoped to get accomplished. However, it shouldn't be too much of a problem to get all of Fellini's movies in the books by the end of this weekend and move on, which after a film like "Satyricon", isn't that sad of an occasion.
The film centers around the character of Encolpio (Potter), with the central plot revolving around his crumbling friendship with Ascilto (Keller) and their joint attraction with a young slave boy (Born). While the plot takes many twists and turns and throws Encolpio into several situations that always seem to spell disaster for him, he always manages to escape them and the on again, off again friendship with Ascilto is placed at center stage. That's about all I can give you in terms of plot, because honestly the story is kind of all over the place and in fact, after a bit of reading, I find that the film is intended to be broken up into twenty-five different episodes, although the "episodes" are barely noticeable.
Despite a few hitches and some bore, the movie actually, surprisingly flows along quite nicely, although many times it's hard to make heads or tails out of what the hell is going on. The visuals, much like "Juliet of the Spirits" (although not as captivating) are quite stunning. Again, I say that there are many moments in "Satyricon" where if it were possible to freeze frame the picture and print it out, the finished product would make for a beautiful wall hanging, as some of the scenes are flat out artistry at it's best and Fellini uses his camera like a brush to paint out some breath taking visions.
Be warned though kiddies, "Satyricon" contains a pretty healthy dose of nudity and it makes me wonder if Fellini was a bit of sex addict, as all of his films seem to, in some way or another, explore the sexuality of their main characters. In addition to nudity, some of the scenes are downright grotesque, with such scenes as: cows being slaughtered, a whorehouse filled with obese customers, a hermaphrodite demigod, a woman who is forced to kindle fires for villagers using her genitalia...Yeah that seems to be a good place to stop, as it doesn't get to much more off the wall or fucked up than that. "Satyricon" is a beautiful movie to watch, but when you get down to some of the scenes, filled with the previously mentioned scenes, it's almost an embarrassment to admit that you watched it and I guarantee that A LOT of people would downright hate the film. It's a film that's easy to hate and, in my opinion, very hard to praise. However, I will give it praise for being original and in the midst of such heinous imagery, there is also some gorgeous photography that deserves to be seen and admired. And sometimes even that heinous imagery is quite intriguing and really makes you want to take a swim inside Fellini's head.
RATING: 5/10 This one is a hard one to peg, but I CANNOT say that I liked it and it won't be showing up on any favorite lists, but it deserves some credit for the points that I mentioned.
MOVIES WATCHED: 154
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 847
October 2, 2010 12:34am
Funny you should mention the sex addict bit. I don't think it's on your list, but you should see his film City Of Women. It's his alter ego Marcello going to a place populated entirely by women. Funny movie and it was recommended to me three years ago by a female Italian Studies professor.
ReplyDeleteIf you can handle this movie then you should probably tackle Pasolini's Salo NOW while your resistance to this kind of material and desire to appreciate are high.
This will come out oddly...
ReplyDeleteIf we are taking Satyricon and Salo together..
These two films represent an extream of Italian cinema. Both are difficult.. and Salo is the most easy to hate. That said...I found this one - Satyricon the less ... worthwhile of the two. Sure the brutality, the out-and-out repulsivess in Salo is worse, but I think it had more to say. I found myself thinking with Sayricon there was more..gratuitious sex here. I fear there was a deliberate attempt to titilate. Salo had more nudity perhaps, but it (in my opinion) wanted to titilate. In fact (I thnk), the depravity was intended to repel.Regretably, I don't feel I can say that for Satyricon.
(Happy to have someone try and change my mind if I've got that wrong)
Ray
I think this one appealed to me more, just because it had such gorgeous photography. Fellini benefited from the invention of color in films and used it to it's full advantage. While the movie itself didn't do a WHOLE lot for me, the photography was so excellent and picturesque that I often found myself totally transfixed by the film. I do, however, agree that Salo had more to say, but wasn't nearly as beautiful a picture.
ReplyDelete