Le Notte di Cabiria

Per l’amore di Dio. Fellini does this to me every time; every single time. He’s proven to me again why he’ll forever be my favorite director.

So I haven’t posted in a while and I thought to myself which film should I watch to review for the blog after almost two months absence? What would prove to be so emotionally bountiful that it would have me writing for an entire afternoon? Eureka! Fellini I tell myself. Put some Fellini on. Since I have collected a plethora of used Criterion Collection Fellini picks I put one of them on. One I haven’t seen. Le Notte Di Cabiria.

Unsure of it’s premise—as I refused to read the backs of DVD’s anymore—it begins. My notes for the beginning of this film consist of, mentioning the music as it’s pure Nino Rota magic. *Side note: Something needs to be written about the collaboration with these two men because it’s one of legend. Anyways, back to my notes on Cabiria. So I mention the music, Gieulietta Masina’s height (as she’s ever so tiny and lovely I might add), her eyebrows, which are a marvel unto themselves in this film, and small aesthetic things, like the lighting, the compositions, and such(which I’ve added pictures for as examples of how brilliantly this is executed). But really by the forty-minute mark, I wasn’t quite sure if I had picked the emotional opus I was hoping for. Let me say one thing, and this is why I never walk out of movies, this impatience I had throughout the whole film ended up kicking my ass into a blubbering fool by the end. I was in ruins by the end of this film, crying and sobbing like a child. Giulietta Masina is phenomenal and she will melt your heart with one look. Really her and Fellini, (and I’ll repeat it) had me in ruins by the end of the movie.

I just realized that this is the first Fellini movie I’ve written about since I started this blog. I don’t think I am out of line to say that this movie is remarkable and I can see why it is considered one of Fellini’s very best. It's a black and white marvel. If you have the chance to go out and watch this film please do. It will definitely leave you a bit shaken. Watch it and make up your own mind. One thing is for sure though, there nothing else out there like it. And above all else what better reason should one have to watch movies than that?