Rating: 
Summary: Singular Disaster
Review: "Fellini Satyricon" is the kind of truly awful movie that only a virtuoso of the first rank could make. Visually astounding, it is a must-have for anyone interested in film design or cinematography, which makes it pleasant to look at, not a good movie. I have now seen it three times. My reaction has remained remarkably constant, despite the fact that the screenings were separated by several years. For a while, the film's unique style leaves me stunned into silence. Say what you will against it, "Satyricon" looks like no other film, except those that have imitated it. (The film's real stars are cinematographer Guiseppe Rotunno and designer Danilo Donati.) After about a half hour, though, that astonishment, even admiration, starts to give way to tedium, then irritation, and eventually, outright hostility.For it is possible to take just so much salacious tongue licking, rear ends wiggling at the camera, frantic sexual athletics and sweaty pointlessness, no matter how superbly lit, framed and cut, before the whole thing begins to pall. Based on Petronius's fragmentary novel of the same name, "Satyricon" makes no effort to tie events together, much less make us care what is going on. The film cuts from tableau to tableau, each conceived to stun, shock, overwhelm, not involve. Sometimes these scenes work. Often the film seems more a teenage romp through the costume shop after the high school pageant has finished. People are always shouting, gesturing lewdly, threatening the protagonist with death, rape or worse, throwing things at the camera, slobbering over unappetizing food before tearing into it, jumping about in hysterical abandon or lolling around like grotesque, over-sized slugs. It makes for a fantastic swirl all right, but then so does watching a Cuisinart, and I wouldn't want to do it for two hours. That said, I'm more than happy that "Fellini Satyricon" exists. In a world of worn-out clichés passing as new movies, the sheer audacity of Fellini's style is--well, if not refreshing, at least a reminder that there is more to filmmaking than third-rate imitations of novels. (I may scream if another sanctimonious hack pronounces that films are "really" about telling stories.) The story in "Satyricon" barely exists, and what there is is a mess. The characters have less life than their costumes and the sets are more compelling than the shenanigans that take place in them. Still, "Satyricon," for all its failings, is the work of an original, a real filmmaker, someone who answers to no standards other than his own. That is always a dangerous course to take, because while the rewards can be incomparable when the director knows where he's going, they can just as easily result in wreckage like "Fellini Satyricon." The maker of "8 1/2" badly mis-steps this time around, but I still raise a toast to the effort.
Rating: 
Summary: Cinematic Bliss
Review: "Pure genius". A phrase that is used often but Fellini Satyricon is what you find in the dictionary when you look up that term. A two hour and something stream from the maestro's unconscious. I've seen this film more than 20 times and each time it leaves me with a sense of awe, not just at the movie, but at the world in general. This film would be among the 10 I would save if the world was to be destroyed. Outrageous. Timeless. Eternal. How I miss Federico Fellini. Can't wait till this DVD is released so I, too, can study it frame by frame. This DVD is created from a newly mastered print and is said to be superior to even the Criterion CAV laserdisc which I own (the only one I still own). Let's hope the Mystic Fire documentary "Ciao, Fellini" will soon be released on DVD. It documents the filming of Satyricon and blows the mind. Ciao.
Rating:
Summary: The Reason Movies Exist
Review: *Fellini-Satyricon* was the Maestro's first movie in which his name appears as part of the title. It is also his first color masterpiece, and one of the most fascinating and origninal films of the 20th century. Every Fellini movie is unique. He had no peers. *Fellini-Satyricon*, however, is a cardinal enry in Fellini canon (not to mention the canon of Italian cinema) because it is the perfection of the new style announced in *8 1/2* and the innauguration of a new visual extravagance that would inform all of Fellini's subsequent films. The subject, 1st century Rome in all its florid, tumescent decadence, is lovingly transformed through Fellini's comic vision. The self-contained sequences, vignettes really, are not only fair translations into cinema of what is probably the first "novel" in Western literature, they also serve to reflect the fragmentary nature of the surviving evidence of antiquity. Scenes are fitted together like pieces in a puzzle where some of the picture is ultimately lost. This is emphasized by the visual references to broken frescoes, from which the characters seem to emerge and revert back into. The DVD provides a sparkling, lush, diamond-sharp transfer with a choice of English or Italian soundtracks and English, French, Spanish subtitles. A word about the dubbing: The English version is much better than the Italian version, for a number of reasons. 1) Fellini dubbed all his actors anyway because he used international casts. There is no such thing as a Fellini movie where the actors are actually speaking their lines in real time. For the most part, different actors were used for the dubbing. 2) The Italian actors used in the Italian dub are horribly miscast. There is just no way that those voices could come out of those people. Physically. The English actors are better. (If you watch their lips, you'll notice that Hiram Keller and Martin Potter are both speaking their parts in English). 3) You'll want to watch, not read, this film. 4) A good amount of the sound that comes out of the characters' mouths is either Latin, gibberish, or some admixture thereof, and, for the most part, what the characters are actually saying isn't all that important. There are sadly, no extra features on this DVD. A commentary by surviving cast members would have been so great. Nevertheless, this is a DVD that anyone who loves movies should want to own. Highest recommendation!!!
Rating:
Summary: people who've seen this movie fall into two categories...
Review: 1)insuferable windbags who claim to understand it 2)normal people who haven't a clue what on earth is going on on the screen...
Rating: 
Summary: The best film of Fellini I've seen so far
Review: A good film. Breathtaking sometimes, less so at other times, but generally very good. Generally, I am not very fond of Fellini, and all other films that came my way, I disliked rather strongly. Satyricon, to the contrary, I admired; a lyrical, touching, human film. Yes, the effects in some scenes seem excessive, and bawdiness overdone; sometimes the show verges on tastelessness; but then, Neronic Rome was not Victorian England. The lyrical scenes are very well done, highlights of the film. (Another highlight is the poet's monologue after he is expelled from Trimalchione's feast (the feast itself with countless dishes, shouts, nude women and danses de l'estomac is rather vulgar episode, and, alas, not the only one)). As an aside, note the fantastic Napolitan accent of some of the characters ("ma sei "sch"chifoso!"). Overall, an experience, with a very moving final sequence; despite some weak points very much worth seeing.
Rating:
Summary: Visually stunning
Review: As the title suggests, it is certainly satiracle, and yet, I cannot understand why it seems to make absolutely NO sense at times. I do, however, respect Fellini's abilities with the camera, as the scenes are simply gorgeous; moreover, the locations are as well. This contains what is possibly the greatest cinematography of all of his works, but I would not recommend it to those who are not familiar with some of his other works. It is, however, far too strange for people who have nothing less than an open mind. I stress this, because people often tell me that this is the strangest film of all time. I tell you, if you can enjoy this for what it says, not how it says it, then you can certainly come to respect Fellini for the talented director he was....
Rating:
Summary: see it once
Review: but never again. My thoughts as I watched this film were: so this is what they did with rejected star trek sets, thank god they only translated every third line, I am not looking forward to the day it reaches DVD and we find out what was edited (or was it), and if given the choice between watching this film again or death - I would seriously consider death!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent example of abstract art .
Review: Each of us interpretes our visual and emotional experiences differently. Relatively speaking, in the particular moment we watch a film like this, we are affected, according to where we are in our lives...emotionally, physically, and intellectually. I remember the film as being interesting visually, and very abstract; that is, somewhat dis-jointed, not easily understood...but, it is this abstract quality, that gives artistic expressions like "Satyricon", the ability to evoke deep levels of thought,and stir our imaginations. Since we all "get" what relates to our own experiences...accepting someone else's dreams, or images, may not always be easy...but, will cause us to think, and react...that's what I believe art is all about. Some of the "pictures" I still have in my mind,after having experienced this film, are as vivid as they were...even after 30 years ! Now, that's a powerful ,spicy meat-a-ball movie !
Rating:
Summary: A LINK BETWEEN DREAM AN REALITY
Review: FELINI MOVES LIKE AN UNSCENE DANCER, TAPPIG HIS WAY WITH THE BEAUTIFUL MOVEMENT OF THE CAMERA. ONE CANNOT SEE HIM, BUT HE IS THERE. HE IS TH WALL THAT IS NOT THE FOCUS OF THE PICTURE. HE DIFINES OF WHAT IS FILM, SURPASSING ANYTHING EVER DONE IN HOLLYWOOD. STAYRICON IS A PICTURE HAT DARWS A LINE BETWEEN THE REALMS OF REALITY AND DREAM, IN TRUTH THEY BECOME ONE IN THIS MARRIAGE OF LIGHT, SOUND, MOVEMENT, WORDS, SILENCE. I HATE TO BE AN UNFILMMAKER AS FELLINI POINTED OUT IN HIS BOOK. THOUH THIS FLICK, IS I TERMS OF (RELATIVE) FANTASY.....IT IS A JOLT. WITHOUT KNOWING IT, THE SPECTATOR BECOMES THE SPECTEE. IN MOMENTS NE CAN THE PASSING OF EYES FROM TH SCREEN, LOOKING DIRECTLY INTO THE SOUL. IT IS QUITE HAUNTIG, YET IN TH SAME UNTOUCHED BREATH....CALMING.
Rating:
Summary: The Ultimate Freak Show, done by the Master
Review: Fellini has a unique gift for visuals, and uses the human oddities the way a great master painter uses his paints; lavishly and always to great effect. When the movie was being cast, there were long, long lines of the most unusual and the most freakish people in Italy; this made for a fascinating spectacle and was in itself, a show. No one has Fellini's eye, and this is most evident in Satyricon, IMHO his best movie. The most striking and unusual image presented is the albino hermaphrodite; the fact that Fellini was even able to find this extreme human oddity is a feat in itself, and presents a truly unique and unforgettable image on the big screen. You literally cannot take you eyes off the screen for one second; you cannot afford to miss anything, all is pertinent, all is fascinating and all is integral to the "show" Fellini wanted to present and succeeds brilliantly. No circus, no sideshow in history can hold a candle to the ultimate showman and visual storyteller. Don't try to analyze; don't try to "read" into anything, just sit back and enjoy and allow the images to take you on an unforgettable journey. P.T. Barnum would be green with envy...or applaud wildly, or both. His images remain in your mind's eye for years afterwards, and that is the mark of the true artist and visionary.
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