The Pink Panther (1963)

For most of my life, the Pink Panther was only a cartoon character from an animated series. Then, quite recently, I learnt that that character originated from Blake Edward's crime comedy The Pink Panther, and being a fan of crime movies and having heard good things about it, I decided to check it out. 

The story follows a French detective, Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau (Peter Sellers), who is obsessively trying to catch a jewel thief known as "The Phantom". A lead takes him to Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, at a ski resort where English playboy Sir Charles Lytton (David Niven) and bored Princess Dala (Claudia Cardinale), who has with her the Pink Panther diamond, are also staying. 

Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958)

When it comes to old Italian movies, I kinda suck as the titles are often all I know about those movies. It was the same with Big Deal on Madonna Street (Italian: I soliti ignoti) which ended up on my watch-list many years ago, but only because I've heard people mention it many times over the years and I thought I should eventually check it out.

The film starts with small-time thief Cosimo (Memmo Carotenuto) being arrested for trying to steal a car. After he is convicted, he asks his girlfriend (Rossana Rory) and lawyer to find someone who, for 100,000 lire, will take his place in prison so that he can pull off a heist at a pawnshop. A washed-up boxer, Peppe (Vittorio Gassman), agrees to switch places, but the judge doesn't believe them and they both end up in jail. When Peppe learns about the plan, he tricks Cosimo into explaining him every single detail of it, and when he gets out, months before Cosimo does, he recruits Cosimo's band of petty criminals to pull off the heist. 

8½ (1963)

Original Title

Otto e mezzo

Genre

Comedy | Drama

Director

Federico Fellini

Country

Italy | France

Cast

Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, Anouk Aimée, Sandra Milo, Rossella Falk, Barbara Steele, Nadine Sanders, Mino Doro, Madeleine LeBeau, Jean Rougeul, Caterina Boratto, Annibale Ninchi, Giuditta Rissone, Eddra Gale, Mario Conocchia, Cesare Miceli Picardi, Maria Antonietta Beluzzi, Tito Masini, Mario Pisu, Simonetta Simeni, Guido Alberti, Bruno Agostini, Eugene Walter, Ian Dallas, Edy Vessel

Plot

Guido Anselmi (Marcello Mastroianni), a famous Italian film director, is suffering from "director's block". Stalled on his new science fiction film that includes veiled autobiographical references, he has lost interest amid artistic and marital difficulties. 

Opinion

8½ is an extraordinary and visionary masterpiece, that digs into a man's consciousness. It is, at the same time, man and woman, religious and profane, everything and nothing.

The film, which does not simply tell the crisis of Guido (Mastroianni) as a director, but also as a man, breaks down physical barriers and brings us into the head of a man, hovering between reality and dream-like quality.

Every single component of the film is nothing but perfect. The writing is divine; each scene is perfectly balanced, providing both meaning and sense of lostness; the photography is outstanding; the costumes are perfect.

Marcello Mastroianni is superb, and offers maybe his greatest performance, and he is well supported by the incredible cast that includes Claudia Cardinale and Anouk Aimée, and among which stands out Sandra Milo.

Quotes

Guido: My darlings, happiness consists in being able to speak the truth without ever making anybody suffer.

Carini: If we can't have everything, true perfection is nothingness. 

Guido: What is this flash of joy that's giving me new life? Please forgive me sweet creatures; I didn't realize, I didn't know. How right it is to accept you, to love, you... and how simple! Luisa, I feel I've been set free. Everything looks good to me, it has a sense, it's true. How I wish I could explain, but I can't... everything's going back to what it was. Everything's confused again, but that confusion is me; how I am, not how I'd like to be. And I'm not afraid to tell the truth now, what I don't know, what I'm seeking. Only like that do I feel alive and I can look into your loyal eyes without shame. Life is a party, let's live it together. I can't say anything else, to you or others. Take me as I am, if you can... it's the only way we can try to find each other.

Rating

10/10