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| Orson
Welles, Oja Kodar, Elmyr de Hory, Clifford Irving |
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Anamorphic
widescreen |
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Dolby Digital
5.1 |
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DTS |
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Trailer(s) |
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Featurette(s) |
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Documentary |
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Audio commentary
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Deleted scenes
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Concept art
/ storyboards |
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Multi-angle
feature |
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Orson Welles: I started at the top
and have been working my way down ever since.
A documentary about fraud and fakery.
 There's
something inescapably saddening about seeing the bloated, bearded
Orson Welles donning a magician's cloak and hat and performing
simple tricks for a young boy in the opening of his 'documentary
essay' F for Fake. The knowledge of this fallen giant's
tragic career adds levels of melancholy to his examination of authorship,
fakery and expertise that transcend the sometimes transparant,
drawn-out yarns that Welles can't help but keep spinning.
It's this pervading sense of sadness that gives this rare late-career
film resonance, but the brilliant editing demonstrates Welles's
cinematic genius beyond any doubt. What he accomplishes here by
re-editing footage from someone else's documentary about a notorious
forger, his even more notorious biographer (who wrote a forged
biography of Howard Hughes), and a few reels of archival footage
is often stunning, and never less than entertaining. Unfortunately,
the film's final section - a lengthy anecdote on Welles's long-time
collaborator and lust object Oja Kodar and a fictitious encounter
with Picasso - runs on too long, and sits uneasily with the rest
of the assembled footage. As a whole however, the film is fitting
testimony to the talents and flaws that marked one of cinema history's
most fascinating figures. |
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Available from The Criterion
Collection in a region-free double-disc edition.
The anamorphic widescreen
image is framed at its original aspect ratio of approx.
1.66:1. Given the diverse nature of the various source materials
used in this film, the image quality is thoroughly acceptable.
The 35mm footage shot by Welles to frame the 'borrowed' documentary
and archival footage looks outstanding, while the scenes
taken from the film on Elmyr de Hory, shot on 16mm, look
much more coarse and grainy, which tends to show up some
of the clever editing tricks that create the illusion of
dialogues where none existed.
The mono sound mix is presented in Dolby Digital 1.0 and
sounds superb, with Welles's famous voice coming through
in full clarity and detail.
 The
first Orson Welles title to be released by The Criterion
Collection, F for Fake arrives in a fully loaded
two-disc edition overflowing with well-chosen supplements.
The first disc features an audio commentary track by Oja
Kodar along with director of photography Gary Graver, both
of whom provide plenty of detailed information on the film's
background and production. Ubiquitous Welles biographer Peter
Bogdanovich has been called upon to offer a 7-minute intorduction
to the film that provides the basics on the context for the
production.
Moving on to disc two, 'Orson Welles: One-Man Band' is an
88-minute documentary on Welles's latter-day years and many
unfinished projects. This German-produced feature-length
production includes lengthy excerpts from much of Welles's
rare unreleased work, and although depressing to watch, it
gives further evidence of the director's unrelenting energy,
wit and exuberance. 'Almost True: The Noble Art of Forgery'
is an outstanding 52-minute documentary on Elmyr, rounding
out the rough sketch from the film itself. Rounding out these
fantastic extras are an interview with biographer Clifford
Irving, taped for 60 Minutes, Howard Hughes' press
conference exposing Irving's hoax, and the film's unusual
trailer, which plays like a short Welles film in its own
right, and which was rejected by the film's distributor.
Dan
Hassler-Forest
Reviewed:
July 12, 2005
Click
here for IMDB info on F
for Fake .
Click here
to return to the front page.
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