A movie from the early part of Fellini's career, situated in his home town Rimini.
"I vitelloni" (the large calves) is about five men in their twenties who refuse to become adults. The question is: why? The obvious reason is of course that they can't say goodbye to their easy lives without responsibilities but with a lot of parties. The hidden reason I think is that they are protecting their big ego's. If they search for a job they find one that is in their opinion way beneath their capabilities.
And so they prefer not to search at all, forgetting that in so doing other members of their family (often mothers or sisters) have to work for them. At the end of the film one of the friends takes his responsibility and catches the train to Rome to find a job. In a marvelous closing sequence images of the train leaving town are alternated with images of the other friends still sleeping in their beds.
Twenty years later Fellini would make another film situated in Rimini ("Amarcord" (1973)). In this film he is more generous about attempts of some characters to keep the child in them alive.
"I vitelloni" (the large calves) is about five men in their twenties who refuse to become adults. The question is: why? The obvious reason is of course that they can't say goodbye to their easy lives without responsibilities but with a lot of parties. The hidden reason I think is that they are protecting their big ego's. If they search for a job they find one that is in their opinion way beneath their capabilities.
And so they prefer not to search at all, forgetting that in so doing other members of their family (often mothers or sisters) have to work for them. At the end of the film one of the friends takes his responsibility and catches the train to Rome to find a job. In a marvelous closing sequence images of the train leaving town are alternated with images of the other friends still sleeping in their beds.
Twenty years later Fellini would make another film situated in Rimini ("Amarcord" (1973)). In this film he is more generous about attempts of some characters to keep the child in them alive.