Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Roberta Jarrett Iervolino Reminiscent of Guillermo del Toro's work, here we see a balance drawn between innocence and what is sinister in Fellini's favorite item: love. Let me start with the movie's end which wraps around the movie, bringing it full circle. This element, to me, is one of the true hallmarks of great story telling. Reality is overcome by fantasy; a vehicle and accessory to projecting the fantastic onto life, which thus transformed, is good! To one almost completely unfamiliar with Fellini's work, this film is both a good introduction and is it's own creature, holding up it's own unique lens. The film makers did a good deed here. Here, the profane is transformed. The female protagonist's fixation on the fantastic is celebrated, a unique event in cinema these days, where truth is more often than not, seen as a brute. An authentic female heroically hunts down her own idea of what true love is. Her greatest endowment is not that her mother sheltered her from the world, but that her world is free from what is essentially abuse. We, of course, see this as a weakness initially, however, this concern is thrust aside as a whimsy never to be considered except as the enemy of what is by far more powerful, the dream of finding a love that can exude even more love from within to without. Projected in the spirit of Fellini, where his medium was so often also the message, the wonder and light of the cinema overcomes the darkness and bitterness of the concrete world.

homefan I don't recall exactly how I found this film just a short while ago, but it looked like a light, pleasant tale that included some beautiful Italian settings and an interesting arty plot. I was right with the settings, but this film delivered quite the punch just as it very likely planned to align with the beauty, but also the dramatic content of Fellini's films. I'm far from an expert on Fellini and I've only glimpsed a few scenes over the years, but I think I understand the stature of his work. So if the emotions conjured up by this little modern gem is similar to that of the maestro, I should try have a deeper look at Fellini's work.So, I was rather surprised and taken aback a few times with the seriousness, fear and emotional weight of some of the scenes in this film. Many other scenes were almost pure art form and created quite the ball of confusion. What was she really experiencing and seeing? And how could the opening message of "Inspired by a almost true story" be true? In IMDB, it says that the film was inspired by a real adventure taken by co-writer Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson. I'm going to rate this is solid 7 or possibly an 8 for the simple reason I think I want to watch it again.It was beautiful, sad, sexy, scary, joyful, hopeful. It was a real rollercoaster of a ride. But it's not for everyone, maybe not an enjoyable ride for many people. But I liked it, a lot. 7/10.

Kevin Kevin I'm so happy that people say there are flaws in this film, because I've always thought that people were seeing problems where there are none and mistaking problems for answers. Finally.

David Ferguson USA Film Festival 2017 Greetings again from the darkness. Even In this age of "helicopter parenting" it's disconcerting to see such flagrant over-protectiveness as that perpetuated by Maria Bello's character on her daughter Lucy. For film lovers, it's even more disheartening to see how the mother uses "happy ending" movies such as It's a Wonderful Life to create the social bubble that results in 20 year old Lucy having never been kissed, and having no concept of reality (outside of what she has seen in movies).Contrary to what that set-up would have us believe, director Taron Lexton's film is actually less Coming-of-Age and more 'Welcome to the Universe', and Lucy's journey of self-discovery is quite enjoyable to behold. Co-written by Nancy Cartwright and Peter Kjenaas, it's the 'based on a true story' of Ms. Cartwright's own personal journey prior to her nearly 30 year run as the voice of Bart Simpson.Lucy (Ksenia Solo, Black Swan) is off on an interview-gone-wrong when she stumbles into a Fellini film festival. She is immediately entranced by the obscure imagery and often less-than-happy endings. In fact, she connects with the films in such a manner that she is inspired to travel to Italy and meet with the Maestro himself. Ms. Cartwright's real life motivation stemmed from watching Fellini's La Strada (1954), and she instantly saw herself in Gelsomina (played by the spirited Giuletta Masina).Her travels through Italy are filled with ups and downs, and Lucy crosses paths with good people and bad. It's her first true life experience and we are along for the ride. The structure of the story is such that as Lucy is discovering life, her mother (Bello) is back home in Ohio slowly losing her battle with cancer while being nursed by her straight-talking sister (Mary Lynn Rajskub, Chloe from "24"). Such contrasting elements would fit right in to a Fellini film.At some point, most movie lovers experience the awakening that occurs when graduating from pleasant, feel good family movies to more esoteric and philosophical cinema. Fortunately, this awakening typically occurs before age 20 and does not require an international trip or dying mother to allow us to grow as a person. Ms. Cartwright's willingness to share her story makes for interesting filmmaking and one of the more unusual coming-of-age (or Welcome to the Universe) twists that we've seen on screen.