The Italian film, winner of this year's Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, is directed by Paolo Sorrentino and stars Toni Servillo. Jep Gambardella (Servillo) is an aging writer who, after his sixty-fifth birthday, has only written a single, bestselling novel. He spends his time immersed in the parties and nightlife of Rome, but when news of the death of someone in his past reaches him, he reflects on the choices he's made in life, and the meaning of life itself. I watched this film before the Oscars, but honestly forgot to write a review for it. The reason? I was sorely unimpressed. The director, influenced by Fellini, wanted to make a film that was an ode to his work, but his film simply comes across as a poor man's Fellini. Not even the great Italian filmmaker can always pull off that eccentricity, much less can Sorrentino. I expected the film, with a 2-hour, 20-minute running time, to be chock-full of character insight and reflection, but instead all I got was a shallow narrative seemingly about absolutely nothing. While one can appreciate this Italian approach to filmmaking, which is wildly different from non-Latin filmmaking, this film did not work for me. I'm positive that another film deserved the Foreign Language Oscar more than The Great Beauty.
Should you see it: At your own risk
Grade: C+
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