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!

Though we had various Fellini movies from the touching sweetness in LO SCEICCO BIANCO, the touching drama in LA STRADA through purely psychoanalytical realities in GIULIETTA DEGLI SPIRITI or CITY OF WOMEN to the autobiographical uniqueness in OTTO E MEZZO, this film appears to be a unique phenomenon. More to say, when you decide to see GINGER E FRED, you do not notice nor feel the Felliniesque nature so much but something different. What is it that one notices? (you may reflect) A sort of return to past memories...? Just a simple story...? Another movie within the four walls of a psyche...? Is it, perhaps, a sentiment brought to tears? No, since Fellini never jerked fake tears...GINGER E FRED is a wonderful film about a moment in the fading career of a couple whose dance once proved a smashing success and who see each other again after all these years just to show their 'pearl' to the young generation. Although it is no longer a heyday of their career, Pippo (Marcello Mastroianni) and Amelia (Giulietta Masina) decide to come to Rome to perform their dance. Yet, the both soon realize that this is not the Rome they knew and loved. The problem does not lie in the changed streets, transformed centres and more vehicles but in the generation they will have to deal with this time. There are lots of noises with flashes, mayors with their doubles and cameras all around and everything surrounded by the fake glamour of commercial Christmas and loud 'Buon Natale' wishes with kisses...all for the sake of a strange monster that such crowds dedicated their lives to...TELEVISION. Here lies the core gist... Will 'TV robots' and 'sensation consumers' be able to find the couple's dance worthy noticing? Fellini's film is truly a satire on TV generation, on the people who cannot imagine living without it and whom he really ridicules. Through many moments of wit, including VIPs' visits, interviews, chaos of TV shows, shallow effects, fake mysticism, lack of art, pseudo careers, talks of plastic surgeries and many others, he seems to draw our attention to the fact what strange social phenomenon it is and, moreover, what impact it has on society, on blinded crowds. It is important to mention that he sometimes becomes too cynical through exaggeration, particularly in case of a priest and miracles ridiculed at a show. It is true that Fellini was critical of the Church and no one should skip that aspect not to make viewers confused. In case of Church, one may reject his view thoroughly. Yet, his points about sheer chaos of TV shows appear to be particularly accurate.Who speaks on Fellini's behalf is, again, wonderful Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni. He portrays Pippo who cannot find himself in this weird unjust reality, who sneers weak artists who "p**s to bed," who doubts the sudden career of mayor's daughter, who understands the codes of conversation unknown to simple "Boffoni". Although it is in no way an action movie and lots of moments may occur tedious and chaotic in the long run, you realize the feelings of Pippo whilst deeper analysis, trying to identify with him, with his thoughts and disappointment. You as a viewer are with him. Pippo is contrasted to all the rest, like Giulietta in GIULIETTA DEGLI SPIRITI. His world is no longer popular because nobody really knows it.The performances are brilliant but this applies to the two: Marcello Mastroianni and Giulietta Masina. Their presence adds much genuineness to the characters since they both could identify their roles with the very moments of their lives (1986). It is, in this respect, a sort of Fellini's tribute to the two but, at the same time, his determined cry in the declining art the director condemns television for. Moreover, he also seems to blame TV for depriving people of something more ambitious and entertaining, for creating a monstrous reality of noise that carries no meaning just sheer mumbling. But let me say something about the couple's performances.You as a viewer are almost all the time with them. They constitute the 'oasis of normality' in the whole 'madness' around. They are perfect as entertainers, as dramatists; finally as dancers. Their very best moments include the rehearsal filled with the sentiments of the past, a funny scene in the bus when a recording says quietly yet powerfully 'Pippo'... and the quintessential of the movie, their dance. Here, Fellini truly identifies with Mastroianni as he did in OTTO E MEZZO giving him the lead and shows the greatest respect for his wife Giulietta Masina. Here, she is excellent in a different way than she was years earlier in LA STRADA, LE NOTTI DI CABIRIA or GIULIETTA DEGLI SPIRITI, yet equally adorable as THE Woman of Cinema.Remember, in order to see this film, you don't have to know Fellini, his particular style executed foremost in the 1960s and 1970s. Knowing TV shows will suffice for you to laugh, to criticize, to mock and to identify with the famous Italian director. Fellini's criticism appears to be constructive as well as he seems to say to all of us: "Turn off your TV this time and give up listening to voices of meaningless entertainment. Tonight, you will listen to my voice" Can we refuse? NO, for the sake of Marcello and, foremost, for the sake of Giulietta!!!

This could easily have turned out to be a Turkey Trot but Fellini manages to avoid producing a turkey largely via the two central performances. Mastroianni doesn't appear until fully thirty five minutes in, unlike Signora Fellini who is present from the start. She IS a fine actress, that is beyond dispute but in those first thirty five minutes Fellini indulges his penchant for the grotesquerie of life by introducing yet another gallery of freaks. About halfway in we get to the television studio which allows Fellini to start taking swipes at the medium but the problem is they're the same kind of swipes that even low-budget British films were taking in the early fifties - or thirty years earlier whichever is the greater. Of course what we've come to see is how well or badly the principals xerox the eponymous characters and it is a tribute to Astaire and Rogers that almost half a century after they were working together their names are so emotive that virtually everyone on the planet knows who is meant by Ginger and Fred. Neither of the principals has ever, to my knowledge, claimed to be a dancer and even in their prime they could never have trodden the same boards as the real thing but those of us who love Astaire will relish not the footwork of Mastroianni but the small, keenly observed Gestures of Astaire, the brushing of the hat, the discarding of a cigarette, the quizzical looks, etc all testimony of what must have been hours if not days of watching old Astaire movies. Rogers, of course, was never much of a dancer and without Astaire would have fallen by the wayside so her dancing is not so important. Over and above all this we have to factor in the sheer CHARM and professionalism of the principals which lend a sort of gravitas-lite to the bittersweet elements in the story. A minor delight.

Memories are time capsules kept within every one of us, stored in the mind, but activated by the heart; the indelible images and sensations that make up an individual's life. A heartbeat away, they can be opened at any time, but let the bearer beware, for often they are bittersweet at best. `Ginger and Fred,' directed by Federico Fellini, and starring Giulietta Masina and Marcello Mastroianni, brings two people back together after nearly thirty years apart, a reunion of the professional dance team who for fifteen years prior to their retirement imitated Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire to the delight of audiences all over Europe. Now, all these years later, they are to dance together again; this time on the popular television show, `We Are Proud To Present,' a `tabloid' type show which presents a variety of acts and guests weekly for the perusal of their curious audience. And so, amid a circus atmosphere of acts comprised of a troop of midgets, an Admiral, a number of celebrity impersonators and those whose personal lives have attracted media attention, Amelia Bonetti/'Ginger' (Masina) and Pippo Botticella/'Fred' (Mastroianni), come together again for one magical night during which they hope to recapture that spark of life they had embraced those many years ago. At it's core, Fellini's film is heart-felt and poignant. On one hand, it's a satire of popular television; on the other, it's an examination of the very real ramifications of those so-called `sentimental journeys' that those of a certain age are wont to take, and during which it is often discovered that it is, indeed, impossible to go home again. What really makes this film work is the stoic attitudes of the principal characters, especially Ginger, who though she is happy to see Pippo again refuses to allow sentiment to engulf her. Obviously, her memories are fond ones, but she manages to stay in the here and now, taking life as it is and not merely basking in what it was. Pippo, though, has a bit more of the wanton dreamer in him, possibly due to the fact that his life since the split with Amelia has not been as directionally grounded as that of his former partner. But as showtime approaches, they manage to strike a balance between the past and now that keeps them on track and holds much promise for an evening of making new memories to add to the old. Besides the story itself, what makes this film a real treasure is the presence and performance of the indomitable Giulietta Masina. In her mid-sixties when this was filmed, she still had `it' in spades. All the moves, the attitude, the coquettishness that made her one of the most expressive actresses ever. Even in her advancing years she was still an absolute joy to behold. There was something so down-to-earth, yet almost mystical about her, that gave her that rare quality of being `real' in every role she played. Extremely talented and charismatic, she was quite simply an extraordinary actress. Somehow-- and it's quite puzzling-- she never achieved the international stardom nor received the acclaim she deserved. This film proved to be her theatrical swan song, and simply put, what a way to go. She bowed out as she had always lived her life and performed-- with style, grace and more than a touch of class. Her `Ginger' is a truly memorable character. Not to be outdone by his diminutive co-star, Mastroianni gives a wonderful performance as well, capturing the essence of a man whose life has apparently been in one continuous state of flux. As the story unfolds, you get the feeling that his aloofness merely masks a somewhat undisciplined determination, probably more often than not derailed by the boy still residing in the man. Most importantly, though, he makes Pippo entirely believable, and the fact that he is so good in this film reflects, I believe, not only upon his ability as an actor, but upon the fact that Masina was so giving as an actress. It is apparent in the way they play so well off of one another, and the real chemistry between them is unmistakable. The supporting cast includes Frederick Ledebur (Admiral), Friedrich von Thun (Industrieller), Francesco Casale (Mafioso) and France Fabrizi (Show Host). One of Fellini's tenderest films, `Ginger and Fred' is something of a reflection upon life and love; watching it is like reminiscing with, or about, an old friend or loved one. The film has something of a dream-like quality about it that is so in keeping with Fellini's visionary style, and by the end you will find that you have been absolutely transported. Still, of all the wondrous images brought to the screen by Fellini during the many years of his career, the greatest of all was irrefutably Giulietta Masina. I rate this one 10/10.