Marcello Mastroiani is fantastic as Fellini's alter ego. On one hand, I consider 8 1/2 a masterpiece; on the other, I find it very hard to watch. Part of it is the post-production... the way that the shots are cut. There's a funny rhythm to it, and it's hard to explain that... but if you watch it and pay attention to what I'm saying, you may notice the mechanics. I find it a little annoying. I enjoy films that are self-referential, where the director has a special relationship with the anti-hero/protagonist (who knows in this case)... where the film is almost therapy, as an expression of and examination of the creator's ego... and where, ultimately, the on-screen director's challenge in making his film lets us feel like we have some insight into what the actual director's creative process is. [Truffaut's "Day for Night" is another one of these films. So is Jaglom's "Venice/Venice."] Pacing aside, there's only one other thing I particularly dislike about 8 1/2. It's narcissistic. "Self indulgent" (to quote the dude in Woody Allen's film "Annie Hall," speaking of Fellini.) It's really a film about Fellini's ego and his self-absorbed philandering... even more than it's a film inside a film. So, I can't give it 5 stars, but it's one of the best "must see" 4 star films you'll ever find.

This has long been one of my three favorite films, along with Tarkovsky's ANDREI RUBLEV and Bergman's PERSONA. 8 1/2 is a milestone in cinema history and perhaps the quintessential modernist feature (to rip off Gerald Mast's A SHORT HISTORY OF THE MOVIES). In an objective list, it would inevitably come in third behind CITIZEN KANE and THE RULES OF THE GAME.