How Strange To Be Named Federico

This portrait of Federico Fellini is neither a conventional documentary nor a fictional biopic but an imaginative, highly personal tribute to one filmmaker from another. Scola, a major director in his own right (A SPECIAL DAY, WE ALL LOVED EACH OTHER SO VERY MUCH), not only admired and knew Fellini but also used his older colleague as a role model and alter ego, at times literally following in his footsteps. Channeling the master’s stream-of-consciousness technique, Scola moves fluidly among film clips, rare archival materials (Fellini’s youthful cartoons are especially revelatory), and reenactments in fantastical Felliniesque style. Highlights include Fellini’s apprenticeship at the iconoclastic humor magazine Marc’Aurelio and a nighttime spin through deserted Rome with a resilient hooker who hauntingly prefigures the heroine of the 1957 classic NIGHTS OF CABIRIA.