Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
A virtually plotless, gaudy, impressionistic portrait of Rome through the eyes of one of its most famous citizens.
Fellini's Roma is a deliberately fragmented, non-narrative mosaic of the Eternal City — virtually plotless by design, functioning as a series of vivid set pieces rather than a story. Cinematography is stunning and inventive, with sequences like the ecclesiastical fashion show and the subway excavation scene reaching genuine visionary heights. Novelty is extremely high: no other film captures Rome quite like this hallucinatory, carnivalesque, semi-autobiographical portrait. Acting is adequate within the episodic vignette structure. The ending, with the motorcycle gang roaring through nocturnal Rome, is atmospheric but somewhat abrupt and unresolved, even by the film's own loose standards.