The Great Beauty (2013)
I haven’t watched many Italian films outside spaghetti westerns, but I did enjoy La Dolce Vita which clearly takes huge inspiration from and it does have the same feeling where the style is the substance. But beneath that there isn’t much real substance, which does fit with the movies theme overall. It is sort of the whole point, that beneath all the excess and gorgeous environments, it is rather empty. Which our charming main character discover along the way. Watching was a mix of being both bored and wowed. There are several scenes with a very high WTF factor, some great use of music and especially the dance scenes are hypnotic and mesmerizing. Like in La Dolce Vita the depiction of Rome itself is lovely, but this dragged and left me uninterested where La Dolce Vita hooked me from start to finish. Not surprising in won an Oscar, as this really is a crowdpleaser for filmmakers with its imitation of Fellini.
Oscar Best International Winners Ranked
Rating: 3