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Juliet of the Spirits: The Criterion Collection
Movie: 7/10
I was really disappointed with this flick. I was excited to watch another Fellini movie (I loved 8 1/2), however, this one lacked the magic and wonder. It's plot was also extremely strange and aggravated me. A lot of directors do work with dreams, David Lynch and Federico Fellini are examples. However, Fellini doesn't quite bring his message across as well as he did in 8 1/2 to this one. Spirits revolves around a rich wife (Guilietta Masina, the Juliet of the title) who is cheated on by her husband. The film deals with an introspection Juliet goes through and she comes to some starling conclusions about her life. However, she comes to these conclusions through strange avenues like seances and meetings with oracles. It really becomes off the wall at times. The acting and direction aren't bad, it's just an extremely strange plot. Unique, but a little too much for me. I'll say that it's not a bad movie, I've seen a lot worse and Criterion saw a glimmer of something in this, but I was extremely disappointed. Maybe a blast of 8 1/2 can counter balance this feeling.
Video: 7/10
It's a widescreen, color transfer and I'll say it's a little dated (1965), but it's not the best transfer. I think it could have looked better. Fellini's work with colors is muted by an average transfer.
Audio: 8/10
Nino Rota's score comes out nicely along with the dialogue even though it's only mono. Not bad.
Extras: 4/10
Extremely bare bones for a Criterion disc. It only has a twenty minute interview with Fellini (excellent, but a little light) and a trailer. This needs commentaries or something else. Maybe a documentary on Fellini or something like 8 1/2 had. I was disappointed with the weakness of this section of the DVD. Criterion is always better than this.
Overall: 6/10
It's a judgment call. It's barebones and the movie isn't great. (It's not bad though either, just didn't catch my taste.)
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