FforFake




	F for Fake 10 of 10

		Directed by Orson Welles Cinematography by Gary Graver Orson Welles Oja Kodar Elmyr de Hory Clifford Irving


Normally, �non-linear� and I do not mix at all. Mostly because I�m a strict traditionalist when it comes to story/plot issues. (In other words, I get confused easily.) But this has to be the most gripping, most logical non-linear film I have ever seen. Director Peter Bogdanovich, introducing the film for Criterion, says that the experience will only work if the viewer is willing to put himself on the same �wavelength� as the film, and he�s absolutely right. At first, the hyperkinetic editing style and machine-gun-style narration are exceedingly disorienting, which Welles clearly intends. Gradually, however, a shape begins to emerge, though the temporal manipulation and frenetic editing are always with us. And the shape which emerges through all this confusion and �fakery� is one we have seen many times before: Welles himself, in all his bewildering, confounding glory. Taking large amounts of footage shot by someone else, he still manages to create a work that is completely his own, with a keen eye for illuminating details, and a sense of humor that is at once both sardonic and reverential. A film of contradictions, which features two of the most bravura editing sequences I have ever seen, and that subtly changes its focus throughout. And the ending leaves us with no doubts; Welles definitely knows how to keep us guessing, not only about his own thoughts and actions, but about ourselves as well. No wonder the man is so mesmerizing.

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