The Movie
Eclipsing even the Fiat, Amarcord was one of the most beloved Italian imports of the 1970s. Translating to "I Remember," the film collects a bounty of reminiscences by the great Federico Fellini. For the purposes of this fictionalized film, the events have been strung together over the course of a single pre-World War II year in an Italian coastal village, based upon his own hometown of Rimini.
The results are sentimental but certainly never sappy, intertwining the lives of many memorable characters. The bawdy sense of humor--involving sexual urges, bad behavior, and certain bodily functions--draws largely upon the old-versus-young dynamic, but with plenty of philosophical waxings by the grownups as well. And one fantasy sequence in particular assures that fans of Fellini's wild cinematic imagination will not be disappointed.
The Picture
The new Blu-ray of Amarcord utilizes the same high-def telecine transfer created for the 2006 special edition DVD, now revealed in all its glory. Its improvements over the 1998 DVD are self-evident, from the richer colors to the greatly reduced noise, the fruits of a shot-by-shot (in some cases frame-by-frame) restoration. By choice, some grain remains, as do some instances of weird coloration. A cloud of dust swirling around a character maintains the individual particles, but borders on an unwanted digital pattern against the soft background. Textures within the 1.85:1 image are ample, but overall the video here could be crisper, no doubt.
The Sound
The original Italian audio is presented in Linear PCM 1.0, clearly legible but obviously dubbed for the sometimes choppy lip synch and overall lack of sonic verisimilitude. The original mix was not particularly complex, just basic sound effects, and of course it is maintained here as true mono, so don't expect much involvement. The dynamic range is also limited, symptomatic of the original track, which was remastered by Criterion at 24-bit quality and digitally scrubbed.
The Extras
This single-disc edition keeps all of the supplements from the 2006 two-disc DVD, adding nothing, although video quality has been bumped up to a respectable level of high definition. Film scholars Peter Brunette and Frank Burke provide the audio commentary, while Fellini himself and his friends and family offer audio interviews (some subtitled) totaling 90 minutes, over photographs. Star Magali' Noël also sits down for an on-camera interview (15-and-a-half minutes).
More photos, along with Fellini's character drawings, are presented as still frames. The silent deleted scene runs three minutes. The Fellini-curious will also want to watch the 44-minute documentary, "Fellini's Homecoming," about the fiery director returning to his roots. Once again, Criterion has included a lovely little companion book, with an essay by scholar Sam Rohdie and the full text of Fellini's 1967 "My Rimini," the tales which formed the basis for his movie.
Final Thoughts
It's a plain fact that life just used to be a lot more interesting way-back-when, and through the artful lens of Fellini, coming of age has never been more wildly entertaining, yet subtly poignant. I'm glad that we lose nothing from the DVD, but would have liked a little something new, even just a state-of-the-art 4K or 8K remaster. (Cue sad music.)
Product Details
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