The most lushly beautiful and haunting of all of Fellini's films, the climax of Federico Fellini's artistic collaboration with his life-long partner, actress Giulietta Masina, an experience that can never be forgotten, Juliet of the Spirits is now available on DVD from the Criterion Collection! In Juliet of the Spirits, the processes involved in identity formation -- specifically those that involve the family dynamic and religious aspirations -- are shown to involve spirits of the past which, while they typically are encountered during the process of "growing up" as the values which are transmitted through the generations, are more real than that and manifest themselves in a variety of other ways. While these processes occur primarily during childhood and adolescence, they continue throughout adult life as well; although most adults seem oblivious to this fact -- but not Giulietta! She is open to the life of the spirit world, and by being so is able to come to terms with her existence. Juliet of the Spirits is a film of intense self-discovery: the layers of illusion and self-delusion peel away one after another as slowly but surely the film makes its way to the core of human being, leading finally to a profoundly satisfying conclusion that frees the individual to face the future on her own terms.
(1960) directed by Federico Fellini • starring Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg & Anouk Aimée • Here it is: Indisputably one of the greatest films of all time, the film that captured a fleeting moment in time and yet defined not only an era but a state of mind, Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita is now available on DVD. This is the film that pinpointed once and for all the transformation that movies -- Hollywood movies initially, but all of cinema ultimately -- have wrought upon the human soul. We are now all actors in a film, we view are own lives as cinematic spectacles to fulfilled, we are all dying to live la dolce vita. And here we have the definitive DVD edition, completely restored and remastered. You can take it from us – Koch-Lorber have done a terrific job here; at least as good as Criterion in this regard: the image is clean and crisp, the contrast is perfectly calibrated and the sound is sharp. And this 3-disc deluxe edition is loaded with bonus features galore, which you can read abot by clicking on the image at left.
