And the Ship Sails On - Criterion Collection

Rating:
Summary: A "Ship" In Search Of A Story
Review: During the first 10 minutes of Federico Fellini's "And the Ship Sails On" the viewer goes through the hisory of cinema. First we see a b&w image, but no sound. Slowly the soundtrack makes its way through with background noises. Now we have a picture with sound, then dialogue is added, and then finally color. It is a very impressive sequence and one of the few highlights of an otherwise disappointing film by one of the great directors.

"And the Ship Sails On" tells the story of a group of passengers on board a ship to shatter the remains of a famous opera singer.

One of the problems with the movie is we never get to know any of these people and we never quite understand what our guide on this cruise, a journalist, is really up to.

When we watch a Federico Fellini film we expect certain things. Grotesque characters, a caricature view of society and people, and themes of fantasy vs reality. Watch "Juliet of the Spirits", "8 1\2" or "Amarcord". It is these elements that are missing in this film. the movie makes half-baked measures at providing us with these aspects. I wouldn't say we have grotesque characters, no big busted women or people with unusualy facial features such as long noses, the film makes a minor attempt at a caricature view of the upper-class, this is done with a scenes concerning dinner and refugees, don't ask, just watch. And hints of fantasy vs reality, but I can't help but feel Fellini has tackled these issues before and did a much better job.

I'm not one of those people who thinks as one grows older their talent diminishes. That's a far too convenient criticism. Why was a movie bad? Beacause the director is old. No, no, no I'm sorry, that's simply not true. Akira Kurosawa made great films in his late years "Kagemusha" and "Ran", Andrei Tarkovsky's work was impressive right until the end with "Nostalgia" and "The Sacrifice" or Eric Rohmer and his "Tale of Four Seasons" series and Ingmar Bergman is still writing great works; "Private Confessions" and "Faithless" so don't fed me that line about age, because I'm not buying. But, what I do question is what did Fellini see here in this film. Is it meant to entertain or inform? If it is meant to entertain, I wasn't very. If it was meant to inform I not quite sure what it is it wants to say. If Fellini had went through his whole career and never made this movie no one would miss it. Fellini says nothing here that would be indispensable.

As the years went on, during the late 60s and early 70s Fellini was starting to lose fans. Some feel he was becoming too "experimental". The last two films most will agree on as his best are "Juliet of the Spirits" and "Amarcord". Films such as "Roma", "Satyricon", and "Casanova" and his work in the 80s would just divide audiences. Although whatever you may say about this film it is better than two of his other films during the time period. In "City of Women" I thought Fellini had captured the visual elements usually associated with his work but no emotional element. With "Ginger & Fred" he managed to capture neither. Here though with "And the Ship Sails On" Fellini is at least attempting. He is making a greater effort. I think his best of his later works was "Intervista" which had a nice blend of visuals and emotion. Though sadly that film has been disregarded. ** 1\2 out of *****

Bottom-line: Somewhate disappointing Fellini film that doesn't have those 'Fellini touches' we enjoy. Makes minor attempts but ultimately the film just lacks a sense of purpose.

Rating:
Summary: Not A La-Strada-Feeling. No Screen That Striked Me. Flat!
Review: ...I own this movie, and I have not watched it fully out. Every time I turn it on I feel that Fellini is trying to show us every detail, and for me they are not psychologically deep enough, no screen that captured my mind. This is totally not a La-Strada-like picture, please do not make the mistake as I buying this with the expectation from La Strada, you should watch it before you buy. And don't get me wrong, there are other good Fellini's films too like Satyricon.

Rating:
Summary: A typical Fellini - beautiful as usual
Review: excellent film. be sure to pay close attention to the scene where two older guys make "great" music with their bare hands and wine glasses...

Rating:
Summary: A typical Fellini - beautiful as usual
Review: excellent film. be sure to pay close attention to the scene where two older guys make "great" music with their bare hands and wine glasses...

Rating:
Summary: A typical Fellini - beautiful as usual
Review: excellent film. be sure to pay close attention to the scene where two older guys make "great" music with their bare hands and wine glasses...

Rating:
Summary: A surreal visual feast
Review: Fellini's films, especially his latter day color films, are surreal visual experiences. If you're one who absolutely needs plot, linear structure, or character studies in your movies then chances are you'll probably hate just about every Fellini film you see and long for another Nights of Cabiria or La Strada. Granted, those are great films but in my opinion Fellini is at his best when he's directing opulent, extravangant, surreal Technicolored visual feasts like And The Ship Sails On.

The plot, what little there is, revolves around a ship full of artists, opera singers and aristicrats cruising to a remote island to scatter the ashes of a beloved opera singer. We're personally given a insight to all the people on board thanks to a journalist who is covering the event and speaks directly to us. We have a plump archbishop, his blind sister, a fellow opera singer jealous of the attention the dead opera singer is getting, a lovesick rhinocerose who stinks up the ship, a loud mouth tell-it-like-is Italian opera singer, fugitive Serbs, a philandering wife, a battleship and an ending worthy of Titanic

Fellini's use of soundstage special effects i.e. a shimmering blue cellophane sea or an obviously fake seagull flying into the dining hall window add to the wonderfully surreal dreamlike quality of the film. If you're a true Fellini fan you will not be disappointed. If you're a La Strada or Nights of Cabiria fan you'll most certianly hate this. And The Ship Sails On, like most Fellini films, requires you abandon all ideas of what a movie is and completely immerse yourself in Fellini's world. Oh yeah, it helps if you love opera. There's lots of gorgeous opera songs thorough out. Paired with Fellini's surreal eye, it creates yet another visual treat.


Rating:
Summary: What a great film
Review: I really loved this movie-it's funny, moving, and completely inventive. This is my first impression after just watching it at face value, and NOT reading into it (in response to the previous reviewer). Maybe to some it's slow moving, but I found it very enjoyable and constantly entertaining. I really found nothing wrong with this film-it is an engaging look at a variety of characters and stories, and is very touching. You should buy this movie (or at least see it!).

Rating:
Summary: What a great film
Review: I really loved this movie-it's funny, moving, and completely inventive. This is my first impression after just watching it at face value, and NOT reading into it (in response to the previous reviewer). Maybe to some it's slow moving, but I found it very enjoyable and constantly entertaining. I really found nothing wrong with this film-it is an engaging look at a variety of characters and stories, and is very touching. You should buy this movie (or at least see it!).

Rating:
Summary: SLOW AND TEDIOUS...LOAD UP ON CAFFEINE, YOU'LL NEED IT!
Review: My goodness, what a crashing bore! After my first viewing of this film, I couldn't believe how boring and bad this was. Then, I read the positively glowing reviews here and on the IMDB site, so I decided to watch it again in case I missed something. Unfortunately, it was just as bad, if not worse, a second time. Compared to his quasi-perfect "Nights Of Cabiria", you'll wonder what went through Fellini's head when he made this. The acting is far from professional, the Italian dubbing is truly atrocious, and the surrealist concept makes the whole thing look like a cheap high school project (check out the papier-mache rhino). There are some moments that, had they been sustained, would have helped make this movie much better. But they were too few. The opening sequence is absolutely fabulous, for example, and shows some real imagination. But once the dialog starts flowing, it's downhill from there. I'm sure that many who read this review will state that I simply didn't "get it". My reply is that they're trying to read too much into this film with their explanations of what the ship actually represents and the disdain of the upper-class towards...oh, such puffed-up pretentious hogwash! Get over yourselves! This is not a symbolism movie by any means. It's just a cheap poorly-executed film. Considering that it was made in 1984, I find it surprising this remastered and re-struck print would have skips in it. Not a good thing. Also, there are no extras with this disc. There's a chapter search function and the English subtitles are optional, but that's it. No trailers, no interviews. Unless you enjoy being bored, skip this one altogether and save your money for something better. Of all the Criterion DVDs I own, this is the first to disappoint. I hope it's also the last.

Rating:
Summary: SLOW AND TEDIOUS...LOAD UP ON CAFFEINE, YOU'LL NEED IT!
Review: My goodness, what a crashing bore! After my first viewing of this film, I couldn't believe how boring and bad this was. Then, I read the positively glowing reviews here and on the IMDB site, so I decided to watch it again in case I missed something. Unfortunately, it was just as bad, if not worse, a second time. Compared to his quasi-perfect "Nights Of Cabiria", you'll wonder what went through Fellini's head when he made this. The acting is far from professional, the Italian dubbing is truly atrocious, and the surrealist concept makes the whole thing look like a cheap high school project (check out the papier-mache rhino). There are some moments that, had they been sustained, would have helped make this movie much better. But they were too few. The opening sequence is absolutely fabulous, for example, and shows some real imagination. But once the dialog starts flowing, it's downhill from there. I'm sure that many who read this review will state that I simply didn't "get it". My reply is that they're trying to read too much into this film with their explanations of what the ship actually represents and the disdain of the upper-class towards...oh, such puffed-up pretentious hogwash! Get over yourselves! This is not a symbolism movie by any means. It's just a cheap poorly-executed film. Considering that it was made in 1984, I find it surprising this remastered and re-struck print would have skips in it. Not a good thing. Also, there are no extras with this disc. There's a chapter search function and the English subtitles are optional, but that's it. No trailers, no interviews. Unless you enjoy being bored, skip this one altogether and save your money for something better. Of all the Criterion DVDs I own, this is the first to disappoint. I hope it's also the last.