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Fellini I'm a Born Liar (2003)
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Reviews Counted:12
Fresh:8
Rotten:4
Average Rating:6.4/10
Theatrical Release:Apr 2, 2003 Limited
Synopsis: Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini created one of cinema's most distinct, influential, and lasting bodies of work over the course of his legendary career. Fellini's films explored the director's... Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini created one of cinema's most distinct, influential, and lasting bodies of work over the course of his legendary career. Fellini's films explored the director's innermost fears, dreams, and desires with uncompromising originality, and forever changed cinema in the process. In this documentary from Damian Pettigrew, audiences get to hear from the director himself, who was interviewed just months before his passing in October 1993. Fellini isn't a theorist, and that's what makes his discourses so entertaining. He proves that his films were true expressions of the subconscious, without the over-intellectualizing that plagued the work of so many of his peers. In addition to clips from 8 1/2 and LA DOLCE VITA, Pettigrew presents behind-the-scenes footage of Fellini directing SATYRICON and AMARCORD. This footage provides greater insight into the director's almost comically two-dimensional view of actors, who he treated more like puppets than actual human beings. Corroborating this are several actors who worked with Fellini on different projects, including Donald Sutherland, Terence Stamp, and Roberto Benigni. A must-see for film aficionados, I'M A BORN LIAR only adds to the director's already boundless mystique and charm. [More]
Starring: Federico Fellini, Donald Sutherland, Terence Stamp, Roberto Benigni
Starring: Federico Fellini, Donald Sutherland, Terence Stamp, Roberto Benigni, Italo Calvino
Director: Damian Pettigrew
Director: Damian Pettigrew
Screenwriter: Damian Pettigrew, Olivier Gal
Studio: First Look
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Reviews for Fellini I'm a Born Liar
Fellini came close to painting his thoughts directly onto the screen. Born Liar honors this approach by putting lyricism ahead of clarity. You get the feeling that the maestro would appreciate the results.
Pettigrew's movie functions nicely as a posthumous couch trip, with Fellini explaining the soulful puppetry of his art without pulling the curtain up far enough to let you catch him pulling the strings.
It goes in circles and wears out its welcome, except for the most hard-core enthusiasts.
If you know little about Fellini, this is not the place to start. Begin with the films.
The film, for all its frustrating qualities, does bring us closer to this intriguing, seductive and admittedly devious artist.
Presents a very limited and limiting view of the film artist whose massively influential achievements in the cinema gave rise to the adjective 'Fellini-esque.'
Both completely fascinating and intermittently frustrating; however, as with Fellini's own films, the downside is far outweighed by the pluses.
Best understood not as a biography but as a kind of master class, a seminar in aesthetics conducted by Fellini, with ample and intelligent footnotes supplied by Mr. Pettigrew.
The newly found footage of Fellini and actor Marcello Mastroianni on the set of La Dolce Vita made me want to run out and see that wonderful film yet again.
How enlightening you find Damian Pettigrew's obsessive film depends on whether you're as adoring of Fellini as he was of himself; for the devoted, it's a gold mine.
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