Amarcord is actually the WORST place to start with Fellini. That came towards the end of his career at a point he was trading off his own mythos and self-importance (think M. Night Shamalyan but more egotistic). A better place to start would be La Strada... which was his earliest award-winning work, and go from there. La Dolce Vita would also be a better pick.

I haven't seen Amarcord, so I can't comment on its qualities or lack thereof. However, due to financial hardship I recently resorted to finally watching some of those unwatched highbrow DVDs languishing on my shelves. These included four Fellini films: La dolce vita, Otto e mezzo, Roma and Satyricon. Let's say that penning a compelling narrative is not one of Federico's main priorities and that he is in no great hurry to tell his wandering tales. Also the Italian soundtrack frequently comes unstuck from the on-screen acting (in various languages), which is kind of distracting. That being said, all of these films contain utterly hilarious scenes that make it easy to forgive their patchiness. Thus far, the impossibly weird and colourful Satyricon is my favourite, but I still need to watch Casanova featuring Donald Sutherland.
Finally, I'd like to recommend the CD Amarcord Nino Rota (I remember Nino Rota), which contains creative reworkings of Rota themes for Fellini films by jazz musicians. Sadly, it appears to be out of print. This album was produced by Hal Willner, the mind behind the brilliant soundtrack of Robert Altman's Short Cuts. Stay Awake, the skewered Disney tribute that he masterminded, might make a nice Christmas present for the musically adventurous. (His masterpiece is Weird Nightmare, but I guess a Charles Mingus tribute is off-topic!)

My list of all time favorite films include Felini but I never enjoyed his work after Otto e mezzo. I think PaulW and Jan made some good suggestions about works to try, and I suggest La Strada, La Dolce Vita, and then Otto e mezzo (his meta-meta masterpiece) to see his evolution and then throw in Satyricon to see where it all headed.

Please do watch 8-1/2: I really think you would like it very much.

Sorry for all the typos up there - I shouldn't be commenting at 5 in the morning!

I have to say, this is not exactly my favorite Fellini, but I always thouht it was definitely his most accessible. I thought immediatly after viewing that it was like a prettier, more fanciful American Pie twenty years ahead of it's time. But maybe it's just me. I loved and "got" La Dolce Vita right away but found 8 1/2 shallow and slight, and still haven't been able to get to the end in two tries. People have said this likely makes me a philistine if not a heretic, so take the above with a grain of salt.

Part of my family is sort of Italian -- not Italian-Americans, but Sicilians. There is a strong, oblivious absurdness that can sping up unexpectedly (to me) in the midst of anything, including a funeral.

Whether or not I can deal with a Fellini film is directly related to my attitude to my family at that moments.

I liked La Dolce Vita, didn't like 8 1/2, and *hated* Satyricon.

I love this review. Honest and hilarious.

The only Fellini I've tried to watch is La Dolce Vita and I had to give up.

In fact, I've learnt over the years that I hate Italian films. I can watch anything, absolutely anything (I sat through the entire Cremaster Cycle in one sitting) but every time I sit down to watch and Italian film I'm disappointed.

The only Italian film I remember liking was Life is Beautiful.

yeah I did not get the point of this film and asked my Italian teacher about it and she said it's just supposed to be beautiful (?)

I loved La Strada though that's a great film she has a wonderful face and La Dolce Vita's good too

I don't know if I'd call myself a big Fellini fan, but I've seen his more well-known titles (five of them) and have strongly liked most of them. What I enjoy is the narrative style -- his movies aren't one story told from beginning to end, they're mostly a series of episodes. Split them apart, and you'd have, like, half-a-season of a TV show. I think they can be enjoyed that way.

That said, of the five I've seen, Amarcord is my least favorite -- it feels like Fellini doing a parody of himself. The best might be Nights of Cabiria, a wondrously devastating movie about a put-upon yet spunky woman. MaryAnn, I'd love to get your feminist take on that one. (And I love 8 1/2, but I think you have to dig streaming wacky randomness for that one -- but it does have one of the best openings in all movies, IMO.)

That ad about "Why are foreign movies so FOREIGN" to me applies more to a film like Bergmann's "Persona," which might strike people as stilted and pretentious.

But Fellini in 8 1/2 is vivacious, vibrant, delirious, and yes, heartfelt. It was the perfect culmination of his more phantasmagorical style and it works expressively and meaningfully.

This "critic" has all the intellectual power to review films like Iron Man or Friday the 13. He is out of his sphere with Fellini.
All Catholic priests are clowns? What a curious thing to say.

It's hard to appreciate a foreign film unless you understand the language. Often, the English subtitles have nothing to do with what the characters are saying. That's particularly true with Italian films. The language has such nuances and physical attributes that are often lost in translation. Otto e Mezzo has always been my favorite Fellini film, with Giulietta degli Spiriti a close second. And La Strada and even Lo Sciecco Bianco, with the great Italian comedian, Alberto Sordi. Another great director, Pietro Germi, made Divorzio all'Italiano in the 60s with Mastroianni in the lead role in an absolutely hilarious comedy. His heir, Giancarlo Giannini, was brilliant as the titular character in Lina Wertmuller's masterpiece, Pasqualino Settebellezze (Seven Beauties). So much of the film relies on visual expressions intertwined with the wonderful music of Enzo Jannacci.