Today’s post is a bit later than originally planned, but that’s what happens after the second full week of kids being back at school and generally running a busier life in September than you did over the summer. Not excusing, just explaining. That said, today I’m looking at the 1953 Fellini film I Vitelloni as recommended by Robert Walrod from over at Earthly Delights.
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As someone who claims to be a cinephile, I’m very much behind on the work of Federico Fellini. I took a gander at 8 1/2 a year or so ago at the recommendation of someone and while I rated it highly because of the visuals, I wasn’t entirely sure I “enjoyed” the film. In the same way I appreciated the visual approach in La Chimera earlier this week, I could see what Fellini was doing in that film, even if the story (or lack there of in that film) didn’t really connect for me.
Now, coming to I Vitelloni, I found the story a bit more grounded, but at the same time less outgoing in terms of the visual style. I’m not sure if it’s because we are at an earlier point in Fellini’s career (by a decade or so when I went back and looked) or if it’s just a different time in Italian cinema, but this felt like an entirely different film from 8 1/2.
That doesn’t mean that either one is better or worse than the other. While 8 1/2 is looking at one main character, this film focuses on a wider group of five friends, Fausto (Franco Fabrizi), Moraldo (Franco Interlenghi), Leopoldo (Leopoldo Trieste), Riccardo (Riccardo Fellini), and Alberto (Alberto Sordi). The story does zoom in a bit more on Fausto as it goes along, but we get roughly equal attention on the other four.1
