How Strange to be Named Federico (2013, dir. Ettore Scola) ***/****

This film I saw at TIFF is a part documentary, part dramatic recreation of the friendship between the director Scola and legendary Italian auteur Federico Fellini.  It cleverly blends archival footage and photos, memoir and recreated events to paint a compelling portrait of the two men's interceding lives.
  The film starts with a recreation of the time in 1939 when Fellini became a cartoonist for a famous Italian newspaper, "Marc'Aurello" the same paper to which the director of this film, Scola, came a few years later for the same type of job.  The two men struck up a friendship that would last well into their old age.  Scola had a unique outlook and insight into Fellini's life with his close proximity to him.  The result of that relationship is this loving tribute of a film to him.
   We are given a lot of different glimpses into Fellini's life at different times in his long career.  From his early days as a cartoonist to his work as a writer in vaudeville to his final and long-lasting tenure as an actor, writer and director in Italy's cinema at Cinecitta's famous Studio 5.
   The use of a narrator who appears live within the film is an interesting technique and adds interest to the film.  At one point the narrator is sitting in a cafe.  A waitress tells the bartender that he has not payed yet to which the bartender responds "Narrators don't have to pay."  There are also interesting scenes taking place in Fellini's car when he is an older man.  He allegedly suffered from insomnia and would drive around at night with friends, often picking up strangers for rides, to alleviate this.  The viewer sees him engaging in conversations with various people of the night such as prostitutes, street artists and friends.  One gets the impression that many of Fellini's screenplays and character ideas came from such interesting conversations and meetings.
   At the films end, the viewer is shown an electrifying montage of many of Fellini's films as various scenes, shots, and characters from a variety of different films fly by.  I was hoping for more of this but instead got mostly recreated events.
  Overall, the film's recreated scenes somewhat detract from the overall film.  I would have preferred more archival footage, interviews, and behind-the-scenes footage.  This is not the greatest film I saw at TIFF this year but it is a good one and offers a unique view into the life of Italy's most famous and prestigious filmmaker.