The Voice of The Moon (12A.)
Directed by Federico Fellini. 1989
Starring Roberto Benigni, Paolo Villaggio, Nadia Ottaviani, Marisa Tomasi, Angelo Orlando. Out on dual format blu-ray/ DVD from Arrow Academy on October 30th.
Fellini/ Benigni. Of all the Inis in all the world (well, predominantly Italy) you could put together Federico and Roberto would seem to be the most perfectly match, a great pairing for what would be Fellini's final film. But almost as soon as it starts you can see that they are going to bring out the worst in each other: the director will be at his most indulgent and unfocussed while the performer will be at his most ingratiating. The result is like a plot less Fisher King.
Voice of the Moon is a whole heap of damn fool silliness. Benigni is the holy fool, a lunatic who looks to the moon for guidance. He's been released from an asylum even though he still hears voices, often at the bottom of wells. He wanders about a small town interacting with all the other oddballs and eccentric, of whom, this being Fellini, there are plenty. Included among these is Gonella (Villaggio) who believe the whole world is in a conspiracy against him.
No Fellini film is a nothing and there are moments when you feel the pull of the old magic. There is a sequence in a disco in a railway shunting yard (a health and safety nightmare – inebriated youngsters on a dancefloor delineated by moving trains) that is fantastically idiosyncratic and oddball and may have been the inspiration for the Grand Central Station waltz in Fisher King. Whenever the film is on one of those ridiculous sets that became Fellini's trademark it provides a little thrill, but any parts shot on location, in reality, are rather drab.
Shockingly the film never got to cinemas in this country, so this is a welcome, if disappointing release.
The Voice of The Moon (12A.)
Directed by Federico Fellini. 1989
Starring Roberto Benigni, Paolo Villaggio, Nadia Ottaviani, Marisa Tomasi, Angelo Orlando. Out on dual format blu-ray/ DVD from Arrow Academy on October 30th.
Fellini/ Benigni. Of all the Inis in all the world (well, predominantly Italy) you could put together Federico and Roberto would seem to be the most perfectly match, a great pairing for what would be Fellini's final film. But almost as soon as it starts you can see that they are going to bring out the worst in each other: the director will be at his most indulgent and unfocussed while the performer will be at his most ingratiating. The result is like a plot less Fisher King.
Voice of the Moon is a whole heap of damn fool silliness. Benigni is the holy fool, a lunatic who looks to the moon for guidance. He's been released from an asylum even though he still hears voices, often at the bottom of wells. He wanders about a small town interacting with all the other oddballs and eccentric, of whom, this being Fellini, there are plenty. Included among these is Gonella (Villaggio) who believe the whole world is in a conspiracy against him.
No Fellini film is a nothing and there are moments when you feel the pull of the old magic. There is a sequence in a disco in a railway shunting yard (a health and safety nightmare – inebriated youngsters on a dancefloor delineated by moving trains) that is fantastically idiosyncratic and oddball and may have been the inspiration for the Grand Central Station waltz in Fisher King. Whenever the film is on one of those ridiculous sets that became Fellini's trademark it provides a little thrill, but any parts shot on location, in reality, are rather drab.
Shockingly the film never got to cinemas in this country, so this is a welcome, if disappointing release.
