Comments on Film Book

Far more than an in-depth interview spanning the work of a gifted filmmaker, this is a foray into nearly everything. Like Fellini's films it views life as a constant interplay between reality and fantasy, between surface and the mystery that lies beneath.

Fellini the schoolboy does his time in the classroom while his inner self roams the quays of Rimini and runs off to join the circus. Fellini the director records everyday images while reshaping them to fit his dreams. Fellini the observer disclaims knowledge of all worlds except that of the cinema, then goes on to analyze those other worlds with keen perception. Youth and age, religion and politics, psychology and symbolism, and Italy distilled, the reality become the dream—all these are filtered through the dual lens of Fellini's special vision.

The questions posed by film critic Giovanni Grazzini are masterful. They open the how and why of Fellini's style of filmmaking and to a great extent the how and why of the man himself. And all of this in a series of visual essays bordering on literature. Subtly personal, as rich as the images in a Fellini film, Grazzini reveals a torrent of thought and insight behind the translucent mask of easy conversation.