Grimerlana Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Rexanne It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

blanche-2 Marcello Mastroianni and Giulietta Masina star in "Ginger and Fred" from 1986, directed by Federico Fellini.Amelia and Pippo once had a successful act imitating Fred and Ginger. Thirty years after their act, they are asked to dance in a special Christmas show for TV called "We Are Proud To Present."It's a real freak show with the most bizarre acts you've ever seen, including a priest who left the priesthood and is now engaged, a man of the cloth who can levitate himself, lookalikes - some very strange acts.Amelia and Pippo not only danced together but were involved. However Amelia married, had a daughter and is now widowed. Pippo married as well.Amelia is worried that Pippo isn't up to the dancing, and when the power goes out in the theater, the two consider bolting.Bittersweet film with marvelous acting and real chemistry between the two.Masina was married to Fellini and died five months after he did.

felixoteiza I didn't like this Fellini as much as maybe I should have, but the problem with it is, it's just too unfocused. And too long also, as a direct result of that. Now, I don't pretend to be able to see underwater--as the saying goes—but here good old Federico works his film as if he didn't have much time left on this Earth and he should hurry up putting into celluloid each theme, character, plot, situation, concept, image, he had still left in his bag: aging, bad TV, memory & memory loss, nostalgia, relationships, media trends, loneliness, terrorism, social revolt, crime, etc. I don't know what were the circumstances in his life at the time when he conceived G&F, but I wouldn't be surprised if something happened then that brought to his undivided attention and in the strongest possible terms the possibility of his own death; the fear that any day he could be gone and that he has to work fast and furious on what he had still to do while still in this world—and that he decided to include it all in this movie. See for ex. as in Intervista, shot a year later, there isn't one single mention of death, by him or by others--the film strictly focusing on the making of a film--while here Mastroiani's Fred/Pippo acts all along as if feeling he's already going down the final stretch; he even refers to it during the bus trip, when talking about things looking at him as if saying Farewell.The story revolves around a mature couple--I think in their 60s--who some 30 years ago had a dancing number imitating the then world famous Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers. They have been separated since then and have been reunited now by a TV station for a variety program for Christmas, which will include all kinds of bizarre characters as guests: a senile Admiral, a flamenco troupe made of dwarfs, a couple who record voices of the dead, a woman who was paid not to watch TV for a month, etc. All that is mildly interesting but no much different from the weird characters and things that had populated many, if not most, of Fellini movies. Precious film time is spent, rather wasted, delving in the personal stories, comments of all these people while G & F, specially her, are let to their own devices in the midst of the crowd, their roles and relevance diluted in that human mass, those props and those TV sets--which is compounded by regular interruptions by commercials with scantily clad women peddling every possible consumer product. This way both leads are turned, in many instances, into mere witnesses, commentators, of the ongoing action, while precious little time is given to relevant information about what went on, or wrong, in their respective lives during those years they were performing and after that—except that Ginger/Amelia married and that Fred/Pippo had a prolonged visit to some institution, so distraught he was after they broke up. We feel for them, sure, specially because we can feel the passage of time in the way they communicate; in their arduous attempts to repeat the feats that their young bodies allowed them at the time—as we did also in Intervista with Mastroiani, also, and Anita Ekberg—but for the same reason this film should have focused a lot more on them rather than diluting itself in so many different things at the same time. I know Fellini was feeling strong urges to throw jabs at TV at the time, as he did with the Indians carrying TV antennas as spears in Intervista, but the film time spent in his settling of that particular score means precious time is spent that could have been better used on G & F, in their life stories.What makes that waste even worse is the fact that the acting is superb by both. The best scenes are in fact those where they are together—as when during the interruption of their dance, during their act, or when Pippo explains to somebody the origins of tapping dance—and that should have been obvious also for the director. All he had to do was to focus on them, their interaction, to have another classic, but he let it go. And the result is a rather lame Fellini, with his trademark exuberant colors, opulent cinematography, his usual cast of weirdos, yes, but one that keeps losing his soulful, nostalgic, way all along the road. I know G&F is prophetic in the way it predicts the evolution, or deterioration, of TV but who cares. He could have done another flick about that. About weirdos, Rome in Christmas, etc.Speaking of Woody Allen, who is lampooned in this movie, one thing he has in common with Fellini--and Kafka, I'd say—is that both are at their best when forgetting themselves; when they forget about their own personal phobias, insecurities, fantasies, egos, and do what they do best: lucid, uncompromising, social and psychological comment. Fellini referred to Intervista as a narcissistic film and he was wrong. That was the farthest to a narcissistic film he ever did. G & F is narcissistic--one where he sacrificed a superb story , wasted the talent of two brilliant actors, because he considered more important to settle his own scores with TV. That's the saddest thing about this movie. 6/10.

Anon Amos Fellini in top form here. I don't know why this gets so much indifference. Along with "And The Ship Sails On," this might be one of Fellini's best films, up there with Juliet and 8 1/2. You should also check out Intervista. A story of two aging performers well past their peak of popularity team up after not seeing each other in decades to dance on a variety show. "Ginger," the lady, doesn't seem to even understand the nature of the show she's appearing and is baffled and disturbed by the circus freaks and transvestites. "Fred," the man, is bitter with age and a bit embarrassed that he doesn't have more to show for his life. He even threatens to derail their appearance to make a statement about what sheep the modern audience is. The stinging commentary on television and rampant commercialization is always in the background, and fortunately it's more of a cultural critique than a political one (I don't think Fellini had a political bone in his body). For me, the emotional core of the film is probably Fred's discussion with a bemused, condescending writer about the origins of tap dancing. I won't spoil it.

Metal Angel Ehrler Federico Fellini is one of the greatest directors and screenwriters the world has ever seen...and that must be the biggest understatement of the century. He had the ability to take simple, real elements and transform them into a surreal, enchanting experience that speaks for itself without the aid of a complicated plot or a multi-million dollar production design (although that's not to say his films aren't visually breath-taking). Even though it's not one of his greatest masterpieces, "Ginger e Fred" is one such film that demonstrates his never-ending talent.The main plot is as simple as it gets. Amelia and Pippo (Giulietta Masina and Marcello Mastroianni) are old friends who haven't seen each other for years, and in their youth, they were reasonably famous for their imitation of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, doing their classic tap dancing and glamorous choreographies. Now, they're very old, but they're being invited by a big (and sleazy) TV station to perform in their epic Christmas program reenacting their age-old act. The film is about these two old people, seeing each other after so many years, and remembering those golden years when they were celebrated, important, and had the spark of love and friendship alive for each other.They're not the only ones invited to the show, though. A huge cast of quirky and colourful characters also make their appearance, each one trying to grab their share of the spotlight performing sometimes interesting, sometimes plain stupid, acts and/or abilities and "amazing" stories. We see an (obviously) Fellini-esquire array of supporting freaks- the priest who renounced his vows to marry his lover, the monk who levitates, the singing slovenly dwarfs, Swedish townsfolk with their fifteen-tit cow, a transsexual who services an entire prison row and is being processed for it, a medium who listens to ghosts through a tape recorder...the list is endless. They all have odious, over-familiar dialogue which makes us relate to the grotesque things we think well of in life. Our heroes, Amelia and Pippo, are thrown in with this collection of freaks, and find themselves both hating and liking the situation they've accepted.The images the film presents are as unusual and as surreal as we have come to experience through other Fellini films. The dialogue sounds casual and witty, but is continually spiked with longing, electricity, loathing and disenchantment. Our main characters speak and travel this (seemingly) alternate world they've entered and find it horrifyingly equal to that they live in. The way they all try to hog the spotlight, their unnatural addiction to TV and celebrities, the way they're all brainwashed through the televised images...Fellini makes a point on all of these. He also continually presents TV commercials about pork and meat, each commercial bearing a scantly-clad woman with a gruesome piece of meat and proclaiming it to be utterly delicious. The people believe it. We also see various posters and written advertisements with strange and slightly disturbing images for a variety of products that don't work, and proclaiming nothing but lies. People believe them.We see two main characters, Amelia and Pippo, being likable characters trying to relive their friendship, trying to regain their previous vitality and trying to fit in with a series of "freaks" (in every sense of the word) in a world where greed, money, fame and awful manners have been allowed to run rampant. We see our main characters trying to quit their association with this distasteful universe only to be drawn in over and over again by a faint memory of fame, by an interlude with someone famous, by the expectations their friends have of them.We, as the audience, feel happy to relate to these old friends who have met once again, and feel their angst. We also feel a certain repugnant hate for the rest of the characters, unfeeling beasts who (to our surprise and chagrin) also seem, each in their own way, very similar to us and the people that surround us. And what is all the more interesting is the way Fellini never even delves into the personalities of these characters (with the exception of Amelia and Pippo) but indirectly spends every second of the film injecting meaning and objection into them. The images, of course, speak for themselves.Masina and Mastroianni are perfect in their roles, the music is both catchy and nostalgic, the costumes are...well, out of this world and the screenplay is both earthbound and ethereal. I couldn't understand the emotional implications of the ending, but I suppose that must be Fellini's point, to leave the audience thinking. And, believe me, this movie does get you thinking! And though it's definitely not one of Fellini's greatest, it still is entertaining and amusing to analyze.Rating: 3 stars and a half out of 4!