This film was the culmination of an ideathat Fellini had considered in the past, concerning a possibility thattrue insanity was really one's protective armor against depressingcircumstances. Using some of the background of his childhood, Fellinicompleted a dreamy, almost Beckett-like story about a young wanderer, amoonstruck figure, Ivo, played by the comedian Roberto Benigni (knownhere for Jarmusch's Down By Law). The mood reminds one of similarmoonlit moments in Intervista and Casanova, but here the characters aremore remote. The landscape is not identifiable, and Ivo, with his friendGonnella, a plump, aging actor, wander across the fog-strewn fields,encountering characters who form the basis for their lunar fantasies. Apallid blonde, Aldina, is Ivo's dream-girl, illuminated by moonlight; amarriage between Nestore and the town manicurist becomes an erotic rompreminiscent of Casanova, with its insatiable odalisques. The decadenteffects of the mass media are attacked, too, in extraordinary setpieces. Ivo and Gonnella, a sort of Laurel and Hardy, move towardsilences against the sounds and fury of the world, hoping to understandthe meanings of life. All of this bewildered the critics. Fellini wasundaunted, however, harboring unrevealed dreams.-AlbertJohnson