Nine comes after 8 1/2

After reading chapter 9, Federico Fellini's 8 1/2, a light went off in my head like I have read or seen something like this before. I couldn't figure it out for a while, so i called my dad back at home and read some of the plot points and characters to him that the chapter described. He told me it sounded a lot like the movie Nine. So i did some research to find out that I did in fact
see the movie, and that 8 1/2 did intact have an influence on the 2009 hit movie.

Reading further into the chapter, the author kept using the term "double mirror construction," and what that refereed to was how the movie was portrayed. Unlike Hollywood films where each scene leads into the next and you can make connections, this new style of cinema took the audience into the mind of how a human really thinks, and put that on the screen. From dreams and emotions, to thoughts and ideas, you never knew what was coming and what was what. In one scene, Guido Anselmi, the director in the movie (not of the movie) would be doing something and the screen would radically change to what he was thinking of in his head. Whether it was a problem with his life, or something he didn't like in the film. Nin

e did similar cinema style, creating images of the on the screen to what the character was thinking.

As crazy as it seems, I can also relate 8 1/2 to a recent film called Inception. Both movies have similar themes finding true personal happiness in a difficult, fragmented life. In one, Guido Anselmi is trying to create the perfect film through all of his mishaps and life problems, and in the other Dominic Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is trying to go through mazes and his life problems to get back to his kids. All of these movies are considered to be "second time movies" because you have to watch them twice to really understand what is going on.

If anyone has any comments or something to add, please do

steve kinslow

8 1/2: Different Perspective Viewings

After reading about 8 1/2 for class, I could not help but realize how different of a perspective I have now. When I first watched it, I was only 17 and did not understand all the intricacies of film. Being of absorbed by confusion prevented me from comprehending the bigger picture instead of noticing little things that make this film so "genius."

The story is was really made me so confused, all I saw were random patterns of events but now after reading it from an objective perspective, it all made sense that he was running out ideas and didn't know where his life was going. The fact that he was a catholic schoolboy and then becomes a lost creative soul truly highlights what it takes to be a director or apart of the industry. You have do somethings that no one has ever thought of.

Going off of what no one has ever thought of, reading about the editing scheme contributed greatly to causing confusion inside of Guido's mind. I thoroughly enjoyed how the walls did not match to give the sense that everything is changing and his life is just one big confusion while he blames his past for not being so creative. A story is a start but the editing is where all the ideas come together to create what Fellini was trying to say the whole time.

While everyone enjoys going to the movies and seeing movies, sometimes you need to think more in depth and see the little things that bring the full picture out of confusion in Guido's thoughts.