I first tried watching Federico Fellini's 8 1/2 fourteen years ago when I was a film major in college.
I watched it mostly out of obligation, hoping to discover why it was such a “big deal”. The result was less than satisfactory. As much as I loved the way the film looked, I couldn’t make it past the first thirty minutes. So frustrated by my inability to even finish the film, let alone enjoy it, I tried again (and again) throughout my twenties, to watch it and comprehend why it was so beloved. Again (and again) my experiment failed. I childishly chalked it up to film-buffs being pretentious: “They’re the ones who don’t get it. They’re all pretending. Not me!”
This afternoon, all of that changed.
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