'IN SEARCH OF FELLINI'........A DREAMY QUEST.........FROM BART SIMPSON??

In Search Of Fellini (2017)    Common sense tells us we should hate this movie.......and unleash scorn and sarcasm upon it......

            It revels in its own preciousness, 80 per cent of it consists of overly pretentious film-festival fawning.......hazy photography, endless soulful close-ups of its lead actress, sequences which intercut and blend fantasy and reality......blah, blah blah......

            ........with a script by, of all people.......Nancy Cartwright, who's been the voice of Bart Simpson for what seems like the last 100 years.......inspired by an incident in her own life.

            Sound like a recipe for disaster?

             What can we say........it worked for us. Sucked us in, somehow entranced us with its not inconsiderable charm.  We'll admit it.....we melted.  And beyond any rational explanation, fell in love with it.

            Come to think of it......this kind of seduction is what movies do best. That's why we watch them.

            Almost all the credit for our rapture has to go to actress Ksenia Solo, playing Lucy, an achingly innocent 20 year old who's been given a sheltered upbringing by her protective mother (Maria Bello).........despite the constant presence of her mother's worldly, wisecracking sister (Mary Lynn Rasjskub).

           After Lucy's mom develops terminal cancer, her mother and aunt must push the waifish, virginal girl into the outside world to make a future for herself..........a monumental task, considering Lucy's practically a lifelong indoor laboratory baby, raised on children's books and repeated viewings of "It's A Wonderful Life".........

            Lucy's first disastrous venture into real life  (a job interview in what turns out to be a porn studio)  ends up with her stumbling into a Federico Fellini film series.......and a viewing of "La Strada".....

            In Fellini's immortal masterpiece of pathos, love and tragedy, Lucy discovers a world of emotions and unflinching humanity previously unknown to her. After immediately immersing herself in the rest of the director's films, she's transported out of the carefully constructed bubble she's lived in.

              And off she goes to Italy (in 1993), just as the title says......in search of Fellini..... after managing to secure an appointment to see the cinema Maestro....(we realize you've got to take a giant leap of faith to swallow this part of it, but if the movie doesn't have you in its spell by this time, you might as well stop watching it.....)

              Lucy wanders through a dreamlike tour of Italy......(and having been to Rome and Venice several times, we drooled with envy at the sight of Lucy moving through all those stunning landmarks unencumbered by thousands of fellow tourists. We can only assume they either shot these scenes at 6 'O clock in the morning or computer-erased all the jostling throngs.....)

               Along the way, Ksenia Solo's huge pale blue eyes gaze on two young Italian men......and you won't have any trouble separating the good guy from the scumbag......as well as all the expected life lessons about finding yourself and fulfilling dreams.......(in a cameo that could only be described as Fellini-esque, Nancy Cartwright herself shows up as beautifully bizarre former "Satyricon" extra )

               This may be one of the only independent film festival entries whose aspirations to high art didn't make us want to throw our popcorn at the screen or throw a towel over our eyes.  And Ksenia Solo had us at the scene where "La Strada" captures her heart and soul. 

               Artsy-smartsy, fanciful in the extreme and hardly any of it believable........but the BQ swooned over this one like our first 4rth grade crush.......so the hell with sarcasm and common sense.....4 stars (****).