A fitting tribute to the born liar.
Fellini I'm a Born Liar (2003)
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Reviews Counted:39
Fresh:28
Rotten:11
Average Rating:6.6/10
Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
Synopsis: Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini created one of cinema's most distinct, influential, and lasting bodies of work over the course of his legendary career. Fellini's films explored the director's... Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini created one of cinema's most distinct, influential, and lasting bodies of work over the course of his legendary career. Fellini's films explored the director's innermost fears, dreams, and desires with uncompromising originality, and forever changed cinema in the process. In this documentary from Damian Pettigrew, audiences get to hear from the director himself, who was interviewed just months before his passing in October 1993. Fellini isn't a theorist, and that's what makes his discourses so entertaining. He proves that his films were true expressions of the subconscious, without the over-intellectualizing that plagued the work of so many of his peers. In addition to clips from 8 1/2 and LA DOLCE VITA, Pettigrew presents behind-the-scenes footage of Fellini directing SATYRICON and AMARCORD. This footage provides greater insight into the director's almost comically two-dimensional view of actors, who he treated more like puppets than actual human beings. Corroborating this are several actors who worked with Fellini on different projects, including Donald Sutherland, Terence Stamp, and Roberto Benigni. A must-see for film aficionados, I'M A BORN LIAR only adds to the director's already boundless mystique and charm. [More]
Starring: Federico Fellini, Donald Sutherland, Terence Stamp, Roberto Benigni
Starring: Federico Fellini, Donald Sutherland, Terence Stamp, Roberto Benigni, Italo Calvino
Director: Damian Pettigrew
Director: Damian Pettigrew
Screenwriter: Damian Pettigrew, Olivier Gal
Studio: First Look
Reviews for Fellini I'm a Born Liar
Best understood not as a biography but as a kind of master class, a seminar in aesthetics conducted by Fellini, with ample and intelligent footnotes supplied by Mr. Pettigrew.
Presents a very limited and limiting view of the film artist whose massively influential achievements in the cinema gave rise to the adjective 'Fellini-esque.'
It's interesting, but I'm not sure how informative this documentary really is. Fellini fans will certainly appreciate it more than the casual moviegoers.
The filmmaker acknowledges the contradictions inherent in [Fellini's] surreal style.
Fellini came close to painting his thoughts directly onto the screen. Born Liar honors this approach by putting lyricism ahead of clarity. You get the feeling that the maestro would appreciate the results.
There may be better straight introductions to the accomplishments of this most poetic of cinematic artists, but for the already initiated this will serve as a welcome remembrance.
A movie that will be treasured by those who love Fellini, just as surely as it will confound and bore anyone not particularly familiar with or fond of the great Italian director.
Little appears to be filmed for the movie itself, or at least within the last decade, and the caliber tends to be less than a Bravo profile.
Born liar or windbag? Either way, Fellini clearly likes telling women to spread their legs. Wider.
It almost seems that documentarian Damian Pettigrew didn't have enough Fellini material to draw from.
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