8½ (1963)

Genre: Drama/Romance

Starring: Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, Anouk Aimee, Sandra Milo, Rossella Falk

A famous Italian film-maker, Guido Anselmi (Mastroianni) is finding it hard to focus on his new movie. He decides to escape to a spa to open his mind but is followed there by his mistress, Carla (Milo). His producer doesn't want him to take time off and insists on working on the movie asap and decides to bring along the entire crew at Guido's spa. Guido is having a troubled marriage with his wife Luisa (Aimee) who complains that he doesn't have enough time for her and that he never loved her. With a shaky marriage and stress taking the better of him, Guido finds it hard to work on the film which starts making his life even worse. There are a lot of flashbacks, memories and dreams interwoven into reality to bring out a highly abstract and off-beat movie. 46 years later, the movie was re-created under the title of Nine with a musical feel attached to it. 8½ explores a directors life and the hardships that come with it. It is a contemporary movie made in a different era and is very typically European. It was made in an age where creativity, modernisation and innovation ruled which saw a whole lot of thoughts coming together to bring out the most profound ideologies. If its an enigmatic and recondite movie that you are looking for, nothing gets better than this. If its pure entertainment, the movie is a slow path to boredom.

Thumbs up: Amazing concept for a movie of its era

Thumbs down: Does not appeal to every kind of audience

Rating: 7.2/10