Lists
- ranked 4 in Roger Ebert's Best Films of 1974
- ranked 69 in Edward Copeland's Satyajit Ray Memorial Anything-But-Definitive List of Non-English Language Films
- ranked 97 in They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? 1000 Greatest Films (December 2006)
- ranked 105 in They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? 1000 Greatest Films (August 2005)
- ranked 108 in They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? 1000 Greatest Films (March 2006)
- one of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
- one of Best Foreign Film Academy Award Winners
- one of New York Film Critics Circle Best Film Winners
- one of The New York Times Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made
One of the reviews I read of Garden State criticized it for having no sense of place: the scene for Largeman's visit is nominally New Jersey, but there's nothing in the film that couldn't be in any of a dozen other states. It might as well be Canada.
What struck me about Amarcord is that it's almost nothing but a sense of place. The title translates as "I remember", and that's what the film is: a long, loving reminiscence on a time and place that, decades later, lived on only in memory. It's fascist Italy in the 1930s, but the townsfolk are more interested in enjoying life than in Il Duce. The young men come to grips with their burgeoning sexuality; fathers deal with their young men. Mothers deal with fathers.
There are images of surpassing beauty, from the sublime -- a peacock in the snow -- to the commonplace. And there are scenes which would be private: in mourning for at a mother's death, an embarrassing afternoon with a mentally-ill uncle, a first sexual encounter with an older woman. But it doesn't feel like a violation: it feels like an old friend has invited you into his confidence.
It's a warm and wonderful place to be.