Intervista

Stars: Sergio Rubini (The Station), director Federico Fellini, Marcello Mastroianni (Used People, A Fine Romance). Although it must have taken Marco Polo's route to get here, Fellini's six-year-old Intervista had a run in arthouse theaters last year, and makes its way to home video on the heels of Fellini's Oscar-night tribute. Made partially to celebrate Cinecitta's 50th anniversary (the major Italian film studio where Fellini has worked most of his life), Intervista is a film within a film. A Japanese television crew interviews the "maestro" Fellini as he goes through the motions of casting and directing a new film loosely based on Fellini's own entrance into filmmaking (as played by Fellini protégé Sergio Rubini). Structurally, the film's a hodgepodge with little sequential connection between the scenes; at one moment we're treated to a yawn producing casting discussion, at another we see an extravagant love scene in which a husband chases his beloved while thousands of flower petals swirl through the air. In short it's a combination of movie magic and sheer cinematic drudgery. Toward the end, Marcello Mastroianni (playing himself) and Fellini visit the home of Anita Ekberg, and in a wonderful segment Mastroianni and Ekberg watch a scene of themselves in La Dolce Vita (1960). Although billed as the "star," Mastroianni's role is fairly brief. Not top-drawer Fellini by any means, Intervista nevertheless has its moments. Audience: Fellini fans will appreciate; others will rightfully scratch their heads.(R. Pitman)[DVD Review--April 26, 2005--Koch Lorber,  116 min., not rated, $29.98--Making its second appearance on DVD, 1987's Intervista boasts a nice widescreen transfer and a handful of extras, including a documentary on Federico Fellini by Vincenzo Mollica in Italian w/English subtitles (52 min.), a photo gallery montage from the set, filmographies on cast and crew, and trailers. Bottom line: although not one of Fellini's best, Intervista still has its moments, finely showcased in this DVD release with solid extras.]