It’s taken me a while, but I have finally watched the winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. Needless to say, I am having some issues with it. The Great Beauty is very surreal; very much in the realm of Fellini (for those unfamiliar with him, he is probably the most famous Italian director, most noted for his surrealism). The movie follows Jep Gambardella, a journalist and playboy, who on his 65th birthday, looks back on his life after receiving a shock from his past. 

The film has astounding cinematography. The colors are vibrant and sensual, the party scenes are borderline Baz Luhrmann, and the dreamlike sequences are, again, very reminiscent of Fellini. It is odd that the Academy would choose something as surreal as this over something like The Hunt, which deals with a much more serious subject. The movie is a little hard to follow at times. The beginning for me was perhaps a little too surreal for its own good, but it delves into an emotional tale about a man who looks longingly back on his life to realize that maybe he did not live a fulfilling life.

So if you want to check out The Great Beauty, be prepared for a colorful but surreal experience. It is certainly a movie I will have to revisit some point in the near future.