Actually, to say that Lucy (Ksenia Solo, Black Swan, Lost Girl) has led a sheltered life is an understatement. She was raised by her single mother, Claire (Maria Bello, A History of Violence, Coyote Ugly), and Claire had a childhood that was filled with quite a bit of heartache and grief. When Lucy came along, Claire decided to shield the young girl from as much pain as possible, even going so far as to hide the deaths of pets and family members by simply having them "go on vacation," complete with postcards to Lucy. While Claire's sister, Kerri (Mary Lynn Rajskub, 24), believes this isn't the healthiest way to raise a child, she lets Claire and Lucy live in their own little world.
Unfortunately, that all changes when Claire gets some bad news and realizes that her daughter isn't prepared for the real world, and a world without Claire in it. She and Kerri start to fret over how to prepare Lucy for the future, and Lucy, picking up on the growing tension, decides to act on her own. Suddenly inspired by the films of Federico Fellini, Lucy decides to go to Italy and meet the man; who knows, maybe she can even get a job working for him, she is a movie fan after all.
With this new "plan," Lucy leaves her small town near Cleveland and tries to make an appointment she had scheduled with Fellini's assistant. Unfortunately, she gets caught up in a series of events that leave her at the mercy of strangers. During her journey, she will get exposed to a bigger world than she ever realized existed. She will experience love and scorn, but will she get to meet the filmmaker himself?
The world around Lucy is an homage to Fellini. References to his many movies permeate every scene and since In Search of Fellini takes several opportunities to show you footage from his movies, even viewers who aren't familiar with his body of work will realize that there is a good bit more going on around the main character than just the streets of Cleveland or the roads of Italy. I can only imagine how much more appealing this movie would be for movie buffs who already know and love Fellini's films.
There are two extras included on this DVD. One is a commentary featuring Director Taron Lexton and Writer/Producer Nancy Cartwright, known primarily as the voice of Bart in The Simpsons. It is worth noting that In Search of Fellini is based on Cartwright's own experience when she, herself, traveled to Italy after watching several Fellini films. How closely this movie follows Cartwright's own experiences, as well as many behind-the-scenes aspects of the movie, is the focus of the DVD's other special features.
I was first drawn to In Search of Fellini because of Cartwright's involvement in the project, and upon reading more about it and that it was based on her own life events, I grew even more interested. Regardless of this aspect though, In Search of Fellini is a pleasant movie that is both a love letter to the classic filmmaker and an endearing story of a sheltered young lady first adventuring out into the real world.
