I have only one regret -- that I have seen it and cannot therefore have again the thrill of seeing it for the first time.

| Sep 24, 2024

When Fellini turns down the volume, a soft sense of magic seeps in...

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jan 23, 2023

Like a record you listen to on a cold winter night, or a soup that reminds you of your grandma’s fireplace, “Amarcord” is a mood piece above anything else.

| Dec 11, 2022

Its people look neither funny nor touching, neither monstrous nor human; they are mere lay figures tugged about aimlessly to fill out the space of the screen, the prescribed time for a major movie, and the leaky balloon of Fellini's ego.

| Jul 28, 2020

Compared with [Fellini's] other recent films, Amarcord is simple and classic to the point of self-denial.

| Apr 1, 2020

This classic is sentimental, crude, sexy, comical and romantic.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jan 23, 2020

The result is touching, sad and wonderfully bittersweet.

| Dec 4, 2019

Fellini shoots much of the film in muted colors that seem slightly out-of-focus, as if he were attempting to transport us into a dreamlike state.

| Original Score: 82/100 | Jan 10, 2016

Fellini's ability to compose a frame that oozes baroque drama and vitality is almost unparalleled and Amarcord more or less succeeded for me in evoking a time period through the eyes of a young boy...

| Sep 8, 2013

| Original Score: 5/5 | Nov 18, 2011

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Nov 17, 2011

Sweet and endearing for many, irritating and tedious for others.

| Original Score: 5/10 | Feb 26, 2011

Continues to resemble something a lewd, grouchy, fitfully indecent silent-movie director might have made for his first time using color and sound. That, at least, would explain the shouting.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Dec 22, 2009

Seen today, Amarcord is something of a disappointment, clever and moving in places, but also sprawling, undisciplined, clumsy in patches, and decidedly overlong.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 17, 2009

[S]imply nonsensical to me. Fascists are idiots, Catholic priests are clowns -- I agree with this. So why don't I feel it?

| Dec 13, 2009

Fellini is so bountiful with incident and observation that he makes most other film makers seem stingy.

| Apr 27, 2009

Bloated, overblown and essentially empty, Fellini's last hit movie skims over the surface of the lives it depicts, substituting manufactured sentiment for genuine feeling or understanding.

| Apr 27, 2009

Amarcord will make you howl with laughter and then choke back a tear. And all the while you'll be building your own memories of this landmark movie.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Apr 23, 2009

Watching the movie feels like flipping through a cartoon sketchbook of Fellini's vivid remembrances and formative experiences.

Full Review | Apr 14, 2009

I'm not sure how Amarcord played in the '70s, but now it feels like an affectionate parody of Italian movie conventions.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Mar 27, 2009