There are films by Federico Fellini that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy (8½, for instance); but Ginger and Fred, about a dance team reunited for a Christmastime television special after a thirty years’ separation, is wonderfully entertaining and deeply affecting. Compounding its rich nostalgia is the casting of the two lead roles: Giulietta Masina, Fellini’s wife, as “Ginger”; Marcello Mastroianni, Fellini’s longtime onscreen alter ego, as “Fred.”
Apart from the act, ”Ginger” is Amelia Bonetti; “Fred,” Pippo Botticella.
Their dance steps on the televised stage more or less creak; but the two are dressed in silken charm and lit with humanity. Of course, the actual lights all go out just as “Ginger and Fred” start their routine, and the two consider crawling away. “We’re phantoms,” Pippo whispers to Amelia; “We rise from the darkness and vanish.” The lights do return, and Pippo embarrassingly falls down, but, professionally persevering, the couple complete their modest routine.
Fellini’s glowing film looks back but is also alert to what’s going on in the present. It spiritedly rakes over Italian pop commercialism. Billboards and television commercials reek of bad taste and ridiculousness. Backstage at the show, a girl sticks out her rump as the inventor of the panties adorning it pontificates on his product: aromatic, edible panties “in eleven fruit flavors, plus tuna and onion.” The team of Ginger and Fred represents the humanity that this sort of commercial dehumanization has replaced. Indeed, the TV special itself is a cheesy affair, and the celebrity who follows the pair onstage is an even older soul than our dual protagonists. The past is being trotted out with little appreciation and even some derision; but at least some audiences—we—respond very differently. Warmly.
Masina is heavenly; Mastroianni, brilliantly funny.
This entry was posted on December 19, 2007 at 9:11 am and is filed under Formal Capsule Film Comments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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GINGER AND FRED (Federico Fellini, 1986)
There are films by Federico Fellini that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy (8½, for instance); but Ginger and Fred, about a dance team reunited for a Christmastime television special after a thirty years’ separation, is wonderfully entertaining and deeply affecting. Compounding its rich nostalgia is the casting of the two lead roles: Giulietta Masina, Fellini’s wife, as “Ginger”; Marcello Mastroianni, Fellini’s longtime onscreen alter ego, as “Fred.”
Apart from the act, ”Ginger” is Amelia Bonetti; “Fred,” Pippo Botticella.
Their dance steps on the televised stage more or less creak; but the two are dressed in silken charm and lit with humanity. Of course, the actual lights all go out just as “Ginger and Fred” start their routine, and the two consider crawling away. “We’re phantoms,” Pippo whispers to Amelia; “We rise from the darkness and vanish.” The lights do return, and Pippo embarrassingly falls down, but, professionally persevering, the couple complete their modest routine.
Fellini’s glowing film looks back but is also alert to what’s going on in the present. It spiritedly rakes over Italian pop commercialism. Billboards and television commercials reek of bad taste and ridiculousness. Backstage at the show, a girl sticks out her rump as the inventor of the panties adorning it pontificates on his product: aromatic, edible panties “in eleven fruit flavors, plus tuna and onion.” The team of Ginger and Fred represents the humanity that this sort of commercial dehumanization has replaced. Indeed, the TV special itself is a cheesy affair, and the celebrity who follows the pair onstage is an even older soul than our dual protagonists. The past is being trotted out with little appreciation and even some derision; but at least some audiences—we—respond very differently. Warmly.
Masina is heavenly; Mastroianni, brilliantly funny.
Tags: Fellini, Marcello Mastroianni
This entry was posted on December 19, 2007 at 9:11 am and is filed under Formal Capsule Film Comments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.