tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9281117.post111416721855599561..comments2024-03-18T21:13:24.011-07:00Comments on Crushed by Inertia: F for FakeLonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07614633082974536229noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9281117.post-1114233689642382742005-04-22T22:21:00.000-07:002005-04-22T22:21:00.000-07:00"F for Fake" is indeed a phenomenal movie, and mig..."F for Fake" is indeed a phenomenal movie, and might even make it's way onto my top ten all time list if I am nerdy enough to make one. I plan to get that new Criterion as soon as I can afford it. Buying Criterion DVD's these days is like taking out a loan for a boat.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9281117.post-1114232209049645022005-04-22T21:56:00.000-07:002005-04-22T21:56:00.000-07:00Hello,Yes indeed, I have been reading this website...Hello,<BR/><BR/>Yes indeed, I have been reading this website, thought only fairly recently. It looks like you caught the same revival of "F" For Fake that I did. I'm glad you finally managed to see the last five minutes of the film. Perhaps it's better left unsaid, but I'd like to add to your review one of the most genuinely surprised and delightly "twist" endings that I've ever seen. Most twist endings elicit a reaction from me along the lines of "Oh," and on rare occasion, "Huhn!" The ending of this film is like an injection of nitris oxide: everything in the film seen prior is expanded with a rush that leaves the viewer totally bewildered and yet superlatively giddy.<BR/><BR/>Another point that I'd like to make as to why I agree with your pairing "F" For Fake along with Citizen Kane as Orson's best films is that both revel so much in the delight of filmmaking. I think this is a side of Welles that is unfairly overshadowed by his (self-perpetuated) image as the genuis auteur. Too many people see him as reaching a height in Citizen Kane that he was never to acheive again, giving rise to the current evaluation that he was the sum of his collaborators, i.e. Toland, Mink, the Mercury Players, Herrmann. I don't mean to denigrate them; Kane is one of the greatest collections of talent ever to work in the Hollywood system. Yet Welles' own contribute is certainly just as remarkable. Just look at the piles upon piles of crap produced by our current A list "studio" directors like Brett Ratner and Jay Roach. Working with the best support system Hollywood has to offer in terms of crew, actors and money, they consistently produce films that barely manage to achieve the level of mediocre. Compare this to Welles' years overseas when he could barely scrape together enough money to complete a picture. At this point he had come to be known as a man who had squandered his talent, and yet he still managed to produce Othello, Chimes at Midnight, The Trial and "F" For Fake. Some of these movies are still extremely difficult to find, and yet I think each of them is a masterpiece in its own way. So my point, the one I began to make several hundred words ago, is that this was a man who deeply loved filmmaking, not for any of the pretentious reasons he liked to throw out, but because he got a kick out of it.<BR/><BR/>It's telling that one of the early scenes in "F" For Fake has him watching footage on a Moviola in an editing room. He mentions in one of his interviews with Peter Bogdanovich that he had come to love the editing process, being essentially forced to rely upon it to cover the inadequacies of his budget. Another form of fakery. He also claims that by this point, he began doing all the cutting himself. I am inclined to believe this, though he did have a penchant for bolstering his resume by taking additional credits in his films. Assuming he is telling the truth, I can't think of another director of similar stature to take on this role. The image of the smooth racounteur, gentihomme du monde, bent over a splicing table in a dark, cramped room is incongruous, but I think it shows how much love he put into his work.<BR/><BR/>In some ways, "F" For Fake is even more a direct testament to that love than Kane. Kane took the best of the theater and brought it to film; Fake's effects are purely cinematic. Okay, this has gone on way too long, and I apologize. Let me just finish by saying that one of the things that makes this movie so appealing is that it's made out of the simplest stuff imaginable, nothing more than found footage and home movies, and yet Welles, relying only on wit and the tricks revealed only to those who truly devote themselves to the medium, created one of the most, maybe not profound, but definitely engaging looks at the joy and art of storytelling. And that's the truth.<BR/><BR/>(Also I would like to note that the score was done by the great Michel LeGrand. It's a little dated, but fits the movie's tone perfectly. It's interesting that he also contributed a great deal of music to Godard's early works, who defined, probably more than anyone else, the modern film "essay." [note to editor- I had to work Godard into this, didn't I?])<BR/><BR/>-TimAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com