Amarcord

Amarcord (1973) is Federico Fellini's beloved classic, and you can watch it online on iFILM. In the dialect of Romagna the title means "I remember," and that's exactly what the film does: it drifts back to a seaside town much like Rimini, where Fellini grew up, and gathers one year of its life out of dreams, jokes and small-town eccentricity.

The story unfolds in provincial Italy in the 1930s, under Mussolini's rule. At its center is Titta, a fifteen-year-old boy bursting with hormones, forever clashing with his stern father and shielded by his fond mother. Around him swirls a parade of oddballs: the buxom tobacconist of every boy's fantasy, the glamorous hairdresser Gradisca, an uncle who climbs a tree and bellows that he wants a woman. Seasons turn, and ordinary life keeps tipping into farce or fantasy.

Shot by cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno and scored by Nino Rota, the film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It is a tender, mocking act of memory about youth, the provinces and a time that won't come back. Stream Amarcord (1973) online on iFILM.