Number 130 on IMDb's Top 250
Cabiria is a wide-eyed waif, a streetwalker living in a poor section of Rome where she owns her little house, has a bank account, and dreams of a miracle. We follow her nights (and days): a boyfriend steals 40,000 lire from her and nearly drowns her, a movie star on the Via Veneto takes her home with him, at a local shrine she seeks the Madonna's intercession, then she meets an accountant who's seen her, hypnotized on a vaudeville stage, acting out her heart's longings. He courts her. Is it fate that led to their meeting? Is this finally a man who appreciates her for who she is? Hilarity ensues.
Trivia: The character of Cabiria was first seen in one scene in Federico Fellini's second film, The White Sheik. Giulietta Masina (Cabiria) was married to Fellini. Her performance as Cabiria in the Nights of Cabiria is ranked #21 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
This was a good solid movie. Masina was great as Cabiria, the "hooker with a heart of gold"*, and really pulls it off. The scene where she is hyponotized on stage and pours her heart out to total strangers was just heartbreaking. This was my first Fellini movie but it was one of his first so the Felliniesque style that he is known for is not very present. Gee, the guy has an adjective named after him, Felliniesque.
*One of the Hollywood Stereotypical roles (see Pretty Woman, and a bunch of other roles)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment