Artist 8 1/2

A landmark in personal filmmaking, Federico Fellini’s 8 1/2 entered the head of a wildly idiosyncratic director at a crisis point in his creative career. Marcello Mastroianni plays Fellini’s alter ego, a film director trying to find some peace after significant international success. But as hard as he tries, Mastroianni suffers a terrible block and heads toward a nervous breakdown. Throughout the film, Mastroianni retreats into his subconscious, which sends Fellini on an inspired flurry of autobiographical dreams and philosophical musings on memory.

Updated 06/04/2009