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This film is a documentary on farce.
It covers the true stories of art forger Elmyr de Hory, his
biographer Clifford Irving, and his "authorized" biography of Howard
Hughes, and even plays on Welles own career of farce in movies,
notably Citizen Kane which fictionalizes the life of
billionaire William Randolph Hearst, and radio, with 'The War of the
Worlds'. The film examines Pablo Picasso, and Oja Kodar's
experiment with girl watching amongst unknowing men. While it is mostly a documentary, there is also a touch of fiction, which I will not divulge. In fact, this film itself may be an effort of farce of Wellesian proportions. This film is not carried by story, instead by the ideas: If a fake artist is so good as to create undistinguished forgeries, is that artist then not really an artist afterall? What if the story becomes more than the person for whom the story was made? Through amazing editing and wondrous cinematography, the "story" unfolds before us in unlike a documentary should. Through this means, not only are we wrapped up in the material in a way that we do not feel we are watching a documentary, but we do not realize the farce that may or may not be at our hands. But we should not be fooled, because Welles himself (playing himself) assures us "for the next hour, everything will be true", unlike what we usually see in film. When straight documentary turns into story documentary (seamlessly), Welles plays a mightier role as storyteller, as he walks us through the story of Picasso and Oja's grandfather, as Welles and Oja play the roles of all 3 parties. Though they are standing in an empty room talking to themselves, one cannot help feeling as though we're seeing the story, rather than hearing it being told. This is a film that shows how a great director can make even a seemingly mundane documentary not only interesting but engaging. Welles, ever the entertainer sets the viewer on a journey freely, but never loses control of the trip, and in the end it is Welles who has the final laugh, pulling one final farce. Nothing art is safe from scrutiny, be it outright, or implied, in F for Fake, from paintings to media to architecture to writing. There are more layers than the ones I've noticed in one viewing, which makes this a film that will require further study to grasp all the small details. That helps propel this film toward the greatness it deserves as a piece of art and entertainment. For this is an outstanding "artsy" film at worst, and entertainment and thought provoking cinema in it's finest moments. A film that only takes a minor hit for a few moments that were slow, and lack of a true story arch. 9/10 |
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