Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

Lumsdal Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Mehdi Hoffman There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

lucaajmone-it Federico Fellini gets Marcello Mastroianni to play him. Yes. Right? Of course. The artistic block is something that Fellini dealt with all his life - Orson Welles once said that Fellini was a great artist with very little to say - that's part of Mastroianni/Fellini's block - He knows where he wants to go but he doesn't know if he has what it takes to get there - then of course the the distractions or excuses whatever you prefer, they are muses, mothers, loves, wives. I was overwhelmed by the access Fellini provides to his own heart and mind and by the audacity and poetry of the film. 8 1/2 stands alone in the virtual mausoleum of world cinema.

bluecouchpotato I have seen this movie more times than I can count. Even the first time I saw it I was struck by Fellini's masterful opening scene and the use of sound & silence. The movie is clever, funny, and poignant. Definitely worth watching.

Jugu Abraham A good film but is it the best Fellini? I prefer "La Strada", "Nights of Cabiria" and "Orchestra Rehearsal" (in that order) over "8 1/2".A few questions--why does Claudia Cardinale alone among all others get called by her own name in the film? The discussions on theology are far from comedy--it has surprising depth. Did Fellini stumble here, intentionally? Why does Guido carry a burning cigarette into a Turkish bath? Nino Rota's adaptation of Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite" is used with visual wit.

Chris Haskell For the sake of this review, I am going to assume that Fellini was trying to make a movie, got stuck, and finally decided the best way forward is to make a movie about how difficult it is to make a movie. Apologies to history if that's not what happened. There are lessons I have resonated with in this movie that I have not commonly seen in reviews, so I thought I would jot them down for others. I hope they are helpful:1. You will get stuck in life. Even if you are doing something you are good at and enjoy. There are moments where you will not be able to finish something, or maybe start something, that is important to you.2. If you are headed in a direction that is unproductive or will cause you pain, take the time necessary to stop and recognize the fact that it temporarily sucks. Based on the content and themes in the film I am assuming Fellini had this moment of realization. 3. Reflect. The visions and dreams in this movie are a beautiful representation of the importance of reflecting on who you are or the experiences that have shaped you. You do have to face reality, but roots are important and do influence who we are and the way we see the world. Guido's conversation with the priests is a perfect example. Is the main character religious? It's complicated. And this brief conversation makes the memory of his childhood so important. 4. Be willing to give it up. When he makes the decision to cancel the production, Guido loses the white-knuckle grip he had on having to get it done, which led to his epiphany that he had everything he needed for his movie right in front of him. The order of this is important. If he would have remained unwilling to lose it, he would have either finished something he was unhappy with or it would have never seen the light of day. Neither of those options would have led to 8 1/2. 5. Be bold. There were many voices in his life telling Guido to be different than who he was. There was unnecessary time pressure, high expectations, actors and actresses wanting answers or they were not going to get involved, blah blah blah. He was the only person who could make the final movie, as was Fellini. There are some things that only you can do. Once you find that thing, be bold and believe that you are the best in the world at it. You don't have to brag, just know it. It will dramatically impact your confidence and most likely results. Thank you for reading if you made it all the way through.