Like two filmless filmstars

[sovay]

I see that there is now a film of the musical of Fellini's 8 ½ (1963). I do not understand how this happens. I mean, I was nonplussed enough by The Producers in 2005—having thought the stage version was fantastic; I was lucky enough to get tickets before it won all its Tonys and sold out for several years—and I think it is no insult to Mel Brooks to agree that his original movie is not one of the acknowledged masterworks of the screen in any language: 8 ½ is so purely and deliberately cinematic, I can't see the point of fitting a stage adaptation back into 35 mm just because you can. This version has Sophia Loren. I approve of that. But otherwise I don't know what I'm going to get from the inside of Rob Marshall's head that I couldn't from Fellini's unreliable, free-falling, dream-slipped, embarrassing, transcendent beautiful confusion. Onstage, whatever. Theater is reperformance; it should never be the same twice. But onscreen is time immortalized in light, and the ghost of Guido Anselmi, clown and magus, is hiding under the table, laughing at you.

Comments

[tuppshar-press.livejournal.com]

I like your statement about the difference between theatre and film, that theatre involves change with each performance. Much like Homer, I think, whose stories were oral before they were written, and which therefore changed... until they were written down.

In our world where storytelling has become synonymous with the mediums of the written word and film, I wonder how many of us consider this distinction?

[mamishka.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I saw a trailer for this movie, not knowing what it was or what it might be based on, but it looked beautiful and interesting in its own right, though albeit in a very Chicago-esque sort of way, which is of little surprise since it is made by the same director. The title was my first tip off that perhaps it was, in fact, based on Fellini's 8 1/2. But I think I'll see it anyways and judge for myself. I think I can keep the two films separate enough that I will be able to enjoy this for what it was. It certainly looks MUCH better than the dreadful film remake of The Producers. *shudder*