I Vitelloni

I Vitelloni was Federico Fellini's third film, and it shows very well how he was maturing in his style, and likewise very well how he was not yet fully mature. His next film would be La Strada, one of the world's great films. I Vitelloni, although many who have had the chance to see it champion it as one of his best, is a tier down from La Strada and his other melodramatic masterpiece, Nights of Cabiria (his other masterpieces, IMO, are La Dolce Vita, 8 ½, and Amarcord of those I've seen, which are all of the ones that are generally considered to be great; I'd also make a case for And the Ship Sails On). The film's flaws are mostly in the script: it is sloppy. There are several great scenes, a couple of the best, especially in a visual aspect, that Fellini ever created, but more often the actions of the characters are difficult to understand. The characters themselves aren't all that well defined - in a scene that has since become common, the five title characters are introduced to us by a narrator, who tells us certain primary traits for each of them. Sadly, we only learn a bit more about most of them. What really harms the film, though, is the fact that a few of these main characters are difficult to distinguish from one another. To make things worse, as time moves on in the film, the characters constantly change the style of their facial hair!

The film is quite episodic, which is actually Fellini's most common way of going about it, but most of the events in his better films seem to bear more weight on the emotions of the films. I Vitelloni is still a very good film, but, given its unavailability, it's unnecessary to knock yourself down searching it out. Perhaps Criterion will release it on DVD soon. Maybe, if it has some good extras, I'll purchase it. 8/10.

An early Fellini and a wonderful one at that. While it is not my favourite Fellini(my top 5 being Nights of Cabiria, La Dolce Vita, 8 1/2, Amarcord and La Strada), it is one of his best and sadly one of his more neglected works. The film does look gorgeous, with rapid yet fluid cinematography and beautiful scenery. Nino Rota's score brings great pathos to every scene it appears in, the script is funny, tense and moving and while familiar in a way the story is engaging. The character studies are just as impressive, these are distinct characters that you do care for. You don't perhaps quite identify with them in the way you do with the titular characters of La Strada and especially Nights of Cabiria, but they are not as detached as some of Fellini's later films like Casanova or Satyricon(my least favourite Fellini but still has its interest points). Fellini's direction is restrained yet quirky and charming, the complete opposite of self-indulgent or dull like him and some of his later films have been criticised for being. The acting is very good indeed, Franco Fabrizi as Fausto especially is superb. All in all, a wonderful film and one of Fellini's better films while not quite among my absolute favourites from him. 9/10 Bethany Cox

I generally don't have a lot of patience for male angst, and especially not when the males in question are angsting over the days of their youth and are resisting taking on the responsibilities that come with adulthood. I wanted to see a truck slam into Barry Levinson's Diner and put an end to the endless pontificating of his disaffected bros.

But something about Federico Fellini's "I Vitelloni" makes the exercise tolerable, and not just tolerable, but emotionally engaging. Maybe it helps that he films his story in a detached, Italian neo-realist style, so we just observe; we're not necessarily asked to condone or even sympathize. It also helps that the setting is post-WWII Europe, and a humble rural village in post-WWII Europe at that. These aren't guys brought up in a world of privilege whining about how hard they have it. These are guys trying to figure out what kinds of lives are available to them in a place that offers few options.

"I Vitelloni" is clearly a very personal film for Fellini, and it's not hard to figure out which character most represents him.

Grade: A

I think that the only other user to have commented on this film may have missed some of the point. The actions of the characters are not hard to understand. Fausto is a womaniser because he does not take love and its attendant responsibilities seriously. Alberto and Riccardo booze and smoke and hang around because those are the roles designated to some men in adult gangs of this kind. Moraldo sees Fausto's womanising and is torn between loyalty to the camaraderie of the group and to his friend and love for his sister, resulting in him helping Fausto to protect Sandra from the truth.

With regards to the lack of character definition of the characters, I don't think that this should be seen as a problem. Their inability to escape the attraction of a casual life robs them of character and their love of the gang robs them of individuality. The interchangeability of their looks and the swapping of facial hair styles illustrates the dynamics of a gang - shared vocabulary, shared likes and dislikes, playing off each other.

I think that this is a perfect distillation of the aimless lives of adult males, unable to break away from the gang. Whether this is Fellini's best or not, it is a very affecting study of small-town ennui and male relationships.

This is a wonderful film. The BFI have got their act together and made a new print, so finally I get to se this - and to be honest I preferred it to La Dolce Vita (despite absence of Mastrionni - sexiest man in history of cinema). Anyway, some of these scenes were just breath-takingly beautiful, especially the aftermath of the carnival, where Angelo looks drunkenly at the clowns (about to become a key Fellini motif). What especially impressed was the soundtrack, which lurched from a fairly typical 'melodrama' score to brilliant use of natural sound, especially the cold wind whipping around the streets off the sea. This sound adds pathos, and helps you understand that sandra and Faustos' 'happy end' is merely temporary: this is a desolate place which makes for desolate lives. It differs from neo-realist classics such as Bicycle Thieves in that it places malaise into the spiritual and emotional realm rather than the financial, although you still get some sense that the boys' economic hardship is maybe not entirely voluntary. Really genuienely enjoyable on your first watch, something I don't think you can say about all Fellini's films, beautifully shot and wonderfully paced, you feel as if you have witnessed a little miracle watching this film.