Nostalgia: 2011 Cinema in Review

For many years, filmmakers have made it their business to please their audience by getting in touch with that feeling whether it is by invoking a particularly nostalgic place and time, or by having characters that long for life in a better time. For example, many films in Federico Fellini’s filmography are dedicated to nostalgia, such as Amarcord where he longingly looks back to what it was like growing up in his small town in Italy, or 8 ½ where Guido Anselmi, during a time of intense pressure, had nothing but to look back on his life to see what led him to be where he is. In 2011 nostalgia made its self present at the multiplexes more than in the last few years, and it shows not only in what made the most money, but also in what ended up being recognized as the most acclaimed films of the year.