I Vitelloni - Criterion Collection

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Federico Fellini's breakthrough film, the 1953 I Vitelloni, is one of the cinema's seminal stories about slacker males, and a highly entertaining one at that. Following the unfortunate failure of his comedy The White Sheik, Fellini prepared to shoot La Strada (he would release that early masterpiece in 1954), but decided at the last minute to make an autobiographical feature about mischievous, drifting, 30-ish losers in a small, seaside town. I Vitelloni clicked with international audiences and remains an obvious influence on such later classics as Breaking Away and Diner. But there's nothing like Fellini's almost self-mocking fusion of gritty neo-realism with the audacious, illusionary style he would later be entirely linked. The ensemble comedy follows the ever-diminishing fortunes of five young men who can't define, let alone jump-start, their dreams, particularly the caddish Fausto (Franco Fabrizi), who thinks nothing of molesting the wife of his father-in-law's best friend. --Tom Keogh

Description

Five young men linger in post-adolescent limbo dreaming of adventure and escape from their small seacoast town. They while away their time spending the lira doled out by their indulgent families on drink, women, and nights at the local pool hall. Federico Fellini's second solo directorial effort (originally released in the U.S. as The Young and the Passionate) is a semi-autobiographical masterpiece of sharply drawn character sketches: Skirt-chaser Fausto, forced to marry a girl he has impregnated; Alberto, the perpetual child; Leopoldo, a writer, thirsting for fame; and Moraldo, the only member of the group troubled by a moral conscience. An international success and recipient of an Academy Award® nomination for Best Original Screenplay, I Vitelloni compassionately details a year in the life of small-town layabouts struggling to find meaning in their lives.

Customer Reviews:

I Vitelloni.......2007-06-26

Fellini's touching, semiautobiographical first feature--the title translates to "wastrels" or "layabouts"--is the quintessential recounting of a now-clichéd tale, so it's no surprise that Coppola, among others, borrowed the premise for his "American Graffiti." Drawing on his own beginnings, Fellini creates one of the crowning coming-of-age stories, a meditation on the bonds of loyalty, friendship, and home that features early glimpses of the maestro's fascination with all things carnivalesque, and a memorably bittersweet farewell. This, Fellinin's breakthrough film, is one of the director's more human and accessible works.

Fellini in transition.......2007-06-15

I Vitelloni signalled Fellini's move away from neo-realism, with all the trademarks (dwarves, older women, outrageous costumes, anecdotes replacing narrative) that would later become so exaggerated making brief and more naturalistic appearances in his apparently aimless tale of a bunch of time-wasting friends in a small coastal town where the biggest events are growing a moustache or sideburns. That it somehow becomes more than the sum of its parts is quietly magical in its own way, and the amiably dry narration linking the events and non-events underlines the ebb and flow of the film nicely. Oddly enough, I was struck by the similarities to Tony Hancock's later 'The Punch and Judy Man,' which seems to touch on several aspects of small-town inertia without ever hitting the same heights.

Criterion's DVD offers a superb transfer with a good retrospective documentary Vitellonismo which reveals a surprising degree of studio opposition to casting Alberto Sordi (then thought to be box-office poison after the disastrous commercial failure of Fellini's The White Sheik with the actor but whose career would virtually be made by the film) as well as the original theatrical trailer, stills gallery and booklet.

An Iconic Landmark.......2007-01-29

Barry Levinson's "Diner" must have been inspired by this ground-breaking work of genius from 1953 written by Federico Fellini. Both "I Vitelloni" and "Diner" are about five males who linger somewhere between childhood and manhood, sensing the greater world beyond their small domain, but who are incapable of breaking out of the protective comfort of what they know so well. Both directors are known to have given their actors little in the way of direction. Both accepted their actors on their own terms, as the people they were, and let them embody the characters they played as naturally as water embraces the shape of the objects it fills. For me, "I Vitelloni" is by far the greater work. It's the template from which every other work about aimless youth has been pressed. Much of what takes place in this movie is autobiographical, and some of it is coaxed from Fellini's dreams and passions. As a great artist, Fellini changed the way we see ourselves, and the word "vitelloni" itself became a new expression for soft, well-fed young people with no direction. Only his second film, the first being the box-office flop "The White Sheik," starring Alberto Sordi, Fellini took his sweet time putting this together. He shot it over a period of four months in various locations, none of which was Rimini, the city of his youth. He was just 30 years old, full of wit, spontaneity, humor, and joy, all of which would slowly fade away with the oncoming years. Alberto Sordi again appears here, even though he was obviously not liked by the viewing public, but he is triumphant as Alberto. In fact, there isn't a weak performance anywhere to be found in this fantastic cast. Entertaining from the opening moment to the closing poignant scene, this masterpiece is all about a specific group of young Italian men, almost a leisure class supported by their families, who must come to terms with women, their dreams, their families, and themselves. And it is about a much larger theme: what makes up a meaningful life? For one character who eventually leaves this small town, Moraldo, the search itself for meaning draws him away. Moraldo is, in fact, a stand-in for Fellini, as he left Rimini at the age of 17 to seek his fortunes in Rome. What meaning he found was in his cinematic art, his writing, and his directing. We are privileged to bear witness to that genius by viewing the treasures that sprang from his mind.
And in particular, this version of the movie on "The Criterion Collection," put out in 2004, provides us with wonderful insights into this work as well as informative interviews from original cast members and the assistant director. I personally couldn't ask for more.
If you want to see a true cinematic masterpiece, get this movie. If you don't like it, check to see if you're still breathing.

Fellini's Best Work in Cinema.......2006-11-05

I Vitelloni, Frederico Fellini's earlier movie and a winner at the Venice Film Festival, portrays five grown men who live in a coastal city who don't want to face growing up. They are adults but they don't act like adults. They spend idle time hanging out and coming home in the later night. The cad Fausto gets Miss Mermaid Sandra pregnant and he has to marry her. However this doesn't stop him from being a cad. He continues his little exploits until it gets him in trouble with the boss when he finds out that he has hit on his wife. Alberto was the comical juvenile of the group. He entertained the crowd with his antics. He was also compassionate towards his mother and his sister. When his sister leaves with her lover, both he and his mother are devastated. Looking at this part, the sister was the sole income earner and it was time for her to get a life of her own. Alberto couldn't forever rely on her for money and getting away was the best thing for her to do; even it meant running off with a married lover.
Riccardo, played by the director's brother, just sang and enjoyed the company of the men. There wasn't much centered around his character and it was for the best because the movie would've taken longer and it would have strayed from what the movie itself is about. Leopoldi, the intellectual of the group, had opportunities to leave and begin his playwriting career. But sometimes letting go can be hard to do. Your friends are your source of support. But friends can sometimes let you down. And there's Moraldo. He is the youngest one of the group. But he is the observant of the gentlemen and their actions. He has to be the one to keep them in line. Even this can be a burden on him. Especially when he sees his close friend Fausto cheat on his sister. Moraldo was more grown up than the rest of the fellows. He knew that it was his time to leave Rimini and live his own life.
This isn't my first time seeing a Fellini movie. He is an ingenuine talented director who isn't rigid. He uses imagery to express reality as he did in "Juliet of the Spirits". Don't just watch the movie itself. Watch the documentary as well. It gives you insight as to how this movie came to fruition.

European cinema of the old style.......2006-09-18

This is a tale of provincial Europe. It's Italy according to Fellini but it could be Spain according to Berlanga, same years. The general impression is the same: a melancholic, tender-hearted remembrance of bygone times.

I Vitelloni (the guys) is a bunch of provincial young men who don't want to grow up. They linger in an idyllic town living their joyful and careless lives. But the world does not stop even if they have. Life brings many changes and responsibilities which they don't want to face, not yet. But they all will have to, inevitably.

This is such a good movie because it's story is the story of every human being who wakes up one day and realizes that he is the master of his own life; and here's the kick, a life that calls for making choices and bearing their consequences.

Its a very humorous and, at the same time, sad story. Young men who don't want to grow up, who don't want to work, simply because there's no urgent need to do it (work as last resource). This is also a good portrait of family life and social conditions in Western Europe after the Marshall Plan had been implemented.

I love Fellini's movies (most of them) specially because of this harmless and innocent way of critizicing -if not just simply depicting- his world. I Vitelloni is greatly appreciated by Martin Scorsese in his documentary about Italian cinema, which is what made me interested in this movie in the first place.

Recommended for the meek, who will inherit the earth.

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