This blurb is possibly more entertaining than the film itself. I guess "out of circulation for many years" is a better sales pitch than the truth of "in circulation (and on a nice BluRay) for several years." It's a nice enough film, but does anybody seriously consider it one of the greatest films ever made, as MoC is desperate to have us believe?MoC wrote:One of the Fellini films which has been out of circulation for many years, I clowns [The Clowns] has long been revered by Fellini enthusiasts for the last several decades since its release as among the Maestro's finest works — a thrilling spectacle once seen for the first time, and a picture which after multiple viewings easily takes its place alongside such classics as La strada, Le notti di Cabiria, La dolce vita, Satyricon, Amarcord... but in a register all its own.
I clowns plays out in dazzling colour and in episodic cascade, just as in Fellini's late-60s-and-beyond films. As the circus rolls into town, and the big-tent is erected, the clowns execute their acts with feverish can-you-believe-it bravado. It's all true — and yet not a "documentary" per se; rather, something inbetween a dramatic-comedic portrayal of gags-at-play and the memoria of all that makes the spark for childhood inspiration to ignite into creative virtuosity... and/or into something like Federico Fellini.
One of the great and underacknowledged treasures of the cinema, I clowns takes its place alongside such films as Bergman's Carnies' Twilight, Ophuls' Lola Montès, Étaix's Yoyo, and Tati's Parade as one of the grand portraits of the clowning circus, of a bygone era of the wandering entertainer. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Federico Fellini's I clowns in a special Dual Format (Blu-ray + DVD) edition for the first time in the UK.
And the kicker (and confirmation that they're taking the piss?) has to be "Carnies' Twilight"(!), just pretentiously slipped in there as the only title translated into English.