Rating: 
Summary: roasted pigs in space!
Review: FELLINI SATYRICON - the first film I experienced directed by Federico Fellini. I was with two or three other people in a small theater, and remember sitting through the movie with my jaw gaping like a little kid watching cartoons; I was on the edge of my seat. I walked out and spent an hour or so trying to figure out what the hell it was I just saw? Favorite scenes: Vernacchio, marriage at sea, minotaur. I later read that Fellini had always wanted to make a science fiction picture, and SATYRICON was the closest he would come to that goal. Petronious Arbiter was a Roman scholar and poet who mixed with the courtesans of the emperor Nero. The remains of his writings are his observations of the world he lived; ultimately, he was "asked" by Nero to end his own life for various insults to the emperor. A strange, distant world is painted in the fractured remains of the Satyricon. Fellini used the text as a jumping off point to attempt to imagine a world completely alien to our own (images, sound, everything). Fueling this tour-de-force of invention is the period of the film's creation - the late sixties. If not directly quoted in its scenes, the spirit and free form of the late sixties definitely influenced Fellini and company. BARBARELLA comes to mind as a comparison, in terms of color pallet, bizarre situations and a comic book quality - psychedelia at its finest. Fellini's interpretation of the Satyricon seems to capture that weird pulse of chaos and the "climate" of revolution; stripping away a mere "classic literature travelogue" approach - and presenting a libidinal sideshow of monsters, perverts, politicians, artists, and other variations of the human condition. The movie works like a dream, just presenting this river of existence that we follow through the misadventures of the main characters: Encolpio, Ascilto and Gitone. It's certainly a wonderful work of art and invention, among the best the cinema has provided thus far. Since its release, major filmmakers have dipped into this film for inspiration - Terry Gilliam, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, etc. In the end, Encolpio's desperate way of life leaves nothing behind, except an expressionless face carved in stone amongst other faces. Life is short and fleeting. What will people two thousand years from now think of the way we live today? Trying to imagine a possible inkling of an idea to follow that question was all I could think about after walking out of FELLINI SATYRICON. So, I'm not sure what you'd call this movie - science fiction? A comedy? CALIGULA on acid? I read [maybe in Playboy] that Fellini was asked to direct CALIGULA, and refused to take the job. Funny, that. Certainly SATYRICON is an entertainment of some kind? Whatever it is - definitely RENT it first.
Rating:
Summary: roasted pigs in space!
Review: FELLINI SATYRICON - the first film I experienced directed by Federico Fellini. I was with two or three other people in a small theater, and remember sitting through the movie with my jaw gaping like a little kid watching cartoons; I was on the edge of my seat. I walked out and spent an hour or so trying to figure out what the hell it was I just saw? Favorite scenes: Vernacchio, marriage at sea, minotaur. I later read that Fellini had always wanted to make a science fiction picture, and SATYRICON was the closest he would come to that goal. Petronious Arbiter was a Roman scholar and poet who mixed with the courtesans of the emperor Nero. The remains of his writings are his observations of the world he lived; ultimately, he was "asked" by Nero to end his own life for various insults to the emperor. A strange, distant world is painted in the fractured remains of the Satyricon. Fellini used the text as a jumping off point to attempt to imagine a world completely alien to our own (images, sound, everything). Fueling this tour-de-force of invention is the period of the film's creation - the late sixties. If not directly quoted in its scenes, the spirit and free form of the late sixties definitely influenced Fellini and company. BARBARELLA comes to mind as a comparison, in terms of color pallet, bizarre situations and a comic book quality - psychedelia at its finest. Fellini's interpretation of the Satyricon seems to capture that weird pulse of chaos and the "climate" of revolution; stripping away a mere "classic literature travelogue" approach - and presenting a libidinal sideshow of monsters, perverts, politicians, artists, and other variations of the human condition. The movie works like a dream, just presenting this river of existence that we follow through the misadventures of the main characters: Encolpio, Ascilto and Gitone. It's certainly a wonderful work of art and invention, among the best the cinema has provided thus far. Since its release, major filmmakers have dipped into this film for inspiration - Terry Gilliam, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, etc. In the end, Encolpio's desperate way of life leaves nothing behind, except an expressionless face carved in stone amongst other faces. Life is short and fleeting. What will people two thousand years from now think of the way we live today? Trying to imagine a possible inkling of an idea to follow that question was all I could think about after walking out of FELLINI SATYRICON. So, I'm not sure what you'd call this movie - science fiction? A comedy? CALIGULA on acid? I read [maybe in Playboy] that Fellini was asked to direct CALIGULA, and refused to take the job. Funny, that. Certainly SATYRICON is an entertainment of some kind? Whatever it is - definitely RENT it first.
Rating:
Summary: The Madness of Rome
Review: Fellini's Satyricon is a kaleidoscopic journey through the decadence that was Rome. Every frame is as detailed as a Bosch painting. Every scene is wonderfully colored. Endless portraits of the people who may have populated the empire grace the film. Everything that is Rome in our imaginations is extravagantly brought to life. This is the picaresque tale of two men and their misadventures. To say more of the plot will not help anything. The plot appears to be merely a device, a travelogue of ancient Rome. What does it mean? I would first have to ask, what does Rome mean? The question is unimportant. This film is for meditation, not pithy sound bytes of pretentious meaning. This is Rome seen through the 20th century eyes of a film master. It is a satiric parallel universe of our modern lives. It is an invitation to madness.
Rating: 
Summary: The Satire of Satires
Review: Fellini's Satyricon is a loosely based adaptation of Petronius' work of the same title; a classical author who lived a life of hedonism during Nero's reign.
As with the book, the film follows the debauched lives of Encolpius and Ascyltus, two rhetoricians fighting over their amorous desires for Giton, a slave boy who manipulates his masters through pleasure. As with the original work, the film is disjointed and fragmentary. The film is unique for its surreal and provocative imagery.
With a blend of classical and futuristic imagery, Fellini successfully reduces the distinctions between societal values of our post-industrial culture and that of pagan Rome. Fellini also follows Petronius' work by including the chapter of Trimalchio's feast; presenting a pun-laden caricature of a decadent society obsessed with pursuing wealth and pleasure at the expense of everything else. Watching this scene or reading this part in the book, one begins to see how little human nature has changed despite the passage of almost 2000 years. Fellini also seems to want to break the myth of the clean, sober, and orderly Roman empire portrayed by Hollywood in preceding years. Fellini shows no restraint (as with Petronius) in displaying the vulgar and obscene without flinching; this however, is not done in a gratuitous manner and shows his brilliance as a film director.
To those who aren't familiar with Fellini or this film in particular, I would either read the Satyricon itself or rent the film before you actually buy it: it may not be your taste. The only idiotic part to this movie is the narrative in the previews claiming, 'Rome, before Christ; after Fellini!' The idiocy of the statement being that Jesus Christ had already been crucified at least 20 years before the setting of this film under the reign of Tiberius.
Rating:
Summary: As classic as the original
Review: Fellini's Satyricon is a loosely based adaptation of Petronius' work of the same title; a classical author who lived a life of hedonism during Nero's reign. As with the book, the film follows the debauched lives of Encolpius and Ascyltus, two rhetoricians fighting over their amorous desires for Giton, a slave boy who manipulates his masters through pleasure. As with the original work, the film is disjointed and fragmentary. The film is unique for its surreal and provocative imagery. Fellini successfully reduces the distincition between societal values of post-industrial society and pagan Rome with a blend of classical and futuristic imagery. Fellini also follows Petronius' work by including the chapter of Trimalchio's feast; presenting a pun-laden caricature of a decadent society obsessed with pursuing wealth and pleasure at the expense of everything else. Watching this scene or reading this part in the book, one begins to see how little human nature has changed despite the passage of almost 2000 years. Fellini also seems to want to break the myth of the clean, sober, and orderly Roman empire portrayed by Hollywood in preceding years. Fellini shows no restraint (as with Petronius) in displaying the vulgar and obscene without flinching; this however, is not done in a gratuitous manner and shows his brilliance as a film director. To those who aren't familiar with Fellini or this film in particular, I would either read the Satyricon itself or rent the film before you actually buy it: it may not be your taste. Remember, this film was released between 1968 and 1969: the peak of the sexual revolution.
Rating:
Summary: Fellini at his best!
Review: Fellini's Satyricon is a superb canvas of images that has rarely been surpassed. Having owned the film for over two decades, as well as a translation the original writing by Petronius Arbiter (considered to be the first example of a "novel") this is one film that I enjoy over and over again. When the film was first released, the actual screenplay (along with a score of photos from the actual production) was published as well. True... this is a film that is unlike the typical Hollywood screenplay, as its plot is fragmented, so viewers who rely on being "led by the hand" through a film and who feel a need for plot and subplot and a logical resolution (conclusion) will find no such comfort. Rather, this film is to traditional cinema what Dodecophony is to traditional harmony and melody. But, ironically, that is one of the greatest assets of the film, which plays out like a scrambled-up diary of the central character, his friends and sexual conquests. Fellini also gave hommage to Petronius Arbiter in one scene involving the suicide of a young Roman couple... for indeed, Petronius, himself, commited suicide when he discovered that he was on the Emperor's "hit list", rather than die at the hands of the very aristocracy he satired. The title "Satryicon", in and of itself, speaks a powerful irony as it implies both "satire" (which this film undobtedly is) while simultaneously implying the "Satyr". Beautifully done, this film is like looking back to ancient Rome, while peering into the future of the sheer incalculability of humanity. It shows, above all, that despite millenium, the basic nature of mankind to overindulge has not changed. ADDENDUM: All viewers should see that there are no "VOTING BUTTONS" at the end of this review....My inquiry asking Amazon why there was no "Did you find this review helpfull? along with the yes or no buttons resulted in the response that you see afterwards....
Rating:
Summary: It's About Time
Review: For extended criticism of the film itself see my review of the VHS below. The DVD of 'Satyricon' has been available overseas for some time, and I've been waiting impatiently for it to be released here in the US. The producers have done a good job with it. The picture is amazingly clear, and the colors are saturated, so that the sets are even more eerie than before. For a film with such highly designed sets, it's pleasant to be able to stop the film and get a good look at things that appear for only a fraction of a second at normal speed. I watched this on my computer, and I was pausing every few frames to get a good look. An English soundtrack is provided. The lip-sync there is no worse than the Italian since the film was recorded in several languages. Supposedly the three main characters - Encolpio, Ascylto, and Gitone - were English hippies who Fellini picked up in Trafalgar square, and they spoke the dialogue in English. But I prefer the Italian; it justs sounds better. I wish they had provided Italian subtitles too. There's very little in the way of other extras. I would have liked some commentary, but I can't complain too much about this DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Shhhhh, dont wake me up from that dream...
Review: hmmm, Try to imagine if Dali was a very good director and his paintings just turn alive ... Try to imagine if Da Vinci portaits just turned into real live faces ... Try to imagine that somebody try to say it ALL and i mean it ALL ;about ancient Rome in an amazing dreamy , visually crazy way. simply ; i am sure i had bought Fellini's best dream " movie ";Satyricon. The worst thing about this dvd is the absence of any extras, the film really worth to have any documentaries or commentaries i really dream that i could have this one from critreons by the way ; can any body tell me what the word satyricon means<i didnt find it on any italian dictionaries> ?
Rating: 
Summary: Very abstract
Review: I could not get "into" the movie. I've heard of this director before and I find it had to believe that his work is any good BASED ON THIS MOVIE. Definately not my kind of movie. Very abstract and unappealing.
Rating:
Summary: The Art of Storytelling
Review: I could rave, as so many have, about Fellini's Satyricon, but the reason I write has to do with some background about the story itself. Satyricon is actually an ancient text, one of the oldest we have in the West. The author is Greek. (I have a copy of the original Satyricon in a box somewhere, or I would give you the author's name.) Satyricon - the original, not written by Fellini - is not complete. Time and abuse have erased a large portion of the document. Sometimes lines are interrupted. Sometimes chapters, scholars think, have been erased. This might make wild sense to those who have seen Fellini's Satyricon - as one reviewer points out, the story seems to jump from place to place, from the unexpected to the unexpected. I hope this may appease a few complaints about this classic piece of cinema - Fellini has simply illustrated a marvelous, earthy, classical text that reveals itself only in fragments.
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