Why you should see
Fellini's 8½Legend has it that Fellini's craftily autobiographical film about an ailing filmmaker overtaken by his own dreams takes its title from the age at which the director lost his virginity. Whether or not that's true, this gorgeously stylish, genre-defying film by the man who defined the urbane post-war metro-drama with La Dolce Vita, is seduction on celluloid - a film full of daydreams, memories, rueful realisations and playful pokes at filmmaking itself. Marcello Mastroianni, with his ice cream hair and strawberry lips, is Fellini's alter-ego, and he has a vast rocket ship designed for the sci-fi epic he's shooting, despite having no idea what the film is about. We've all been there. Fortunately Fellini knows exactly where he's going. What better way to enjoy this than in the company of something rosy, fruity and warmly full-bodied? Hell, have a glass of Italian red with it too.
Jon Fortgang
