4. Federico Fellini's Ode To Writer's Block (8 1/2, 1963)
Like the great composers before him, Italian Maestro Federico Felini was in a rutt about his ninth work. So he made a film about how hard it is to make a ninth film, go figure. In '8 1/2', Director Guido battles his producer, actors and himself to succeed in finishing his ninth piece, the one people will remember him for. In his hallucinatory day-dreams Guido compares these struggles to crisis of faith, love and life itself. Translation: there is nothing more important to a director than the film he's creating. As with other entries I could list many, many scenes of vivid and visceral imagery. Most people will remark on the beginning sequence with Guido trapped in a car filling with smoke, his only escape is flying off the roof of the car like a kite (it all makes sense in context...). Others might look back on Guido's idea of 'married life', with a herum of women who exist just to make him happy. I'll choose to list the ending due in no small part to the culmination of the ideas, literally and figuratively, in the film.