What a strange and marvelous weekend of movie viewing that cable tv is promising!  One could even call it felliniesque, should one be so inclined.  In fact, after the third part of Hiroshi Inagaki's Samurai trilogy, it's all Fellini for the rest of the weekend.  So you'd best bring your sense of wonder and delight, open a bottle or two or three of wine, fix yourself a delicious bowl of gnocchi and fresh pesto, and settle in!

First up is Samurai III: Duel At Ganryu Island on IFC Saturday morning, February 21 at 7 am central/8 am eastern.  This is the climax of the Samurai trilogy that IFC has been showing on Saturday mornings for the last three weeks.  And it's fantastic.  As the accompanying video shows (and warning: there are spoilers in the video, although for those who have been watching the trilogy, the revelations within shouldn't be much of a surprise), the swordfight in Kill Bill: Volume I was nearly a shot-for-shot remake of the samurai battle in this movie. 

Next, on Saturday evening, February 21 at 7 pm central/8 pm eastern and again at 10 pm central/11 pm eastern, Ovation is showing Fellini's 8 1/2, which is my second-favorite Fellini movie.  I'm sure most of the readers of this blog are at least familiar with this movie, but man oh man, is it a worthwhile viewing, even for those who've seen it a dozen times.  Marcello Mastroianni plays Guido Anselmi, a director of films who is so caught up in his own emotional turmoil that he cannot finish the screenplay for his current production. (Sidenote: His name is possibly a play on the names of the Renaissance painter Michelangelo Anselmi and the early philosopher St. Anselm, the father of ontology [which is the philosophy of being] and one of the first Western philosophers who attempted to argue rationally for the existence of God.)  Anselmi is trapped in his memories and trying to hide from the mess he's making of his current project.  This is required viewing for anyone who takes movies seriously as an artform.  Another note: Ovation seems to be a recent addition to my cable lineup and I don't know anything about the format in which it shows movies.  Are they uncut?  Do they mess with the aspect ratio?  I'm trying to assess whether this is more like AMC, which modifies movies so much that I'm loathe to recommend any, or TCM and IFC, which should be the gold standards for movies shown on cable.  If it's the former, I'm less likely to recommend these in the future.

Finally, on Sunday, February 22, at 7 am, IFC is showing Fellini's Amarcord.  If 8 1/2 whetted your appetite, Amarcord should be quite a feast.  This is my favorite Fellini film, a fictional memoir of sorts based on a year in Fellini's childhood.  It's funny and bawdy and sweet and terrifying, just like adolescence.  Here's Salon's Andrew O'Hehir on why you should watch it. I don't always agree with his opinion, but here I wholeheartedly concur.