Orson Welles – C-VILLE Weekly

Critic’s cut: Orson Welles’ last film is no afterthought

Viewed purely on its own, Orson Welles’ The Other Side of the Wind is a masterpiece by one of the world’s greatest filmmakers, proving to us that even long after death, he is not out of new ideas. It joins the ranks of Federico Fellini’s 8 ½ and Bob Fosse’s All That Jazz as a semi-autobiographical work that is a grand statement of artistic vision and a personal indictment at the same time.

But there is no way to view The Other Side of the Wind purely on its own. Like other Welles films, the version that can be seen today is not his final cut, as that does not exist.

Welles spent years filming and editing, only to have key footage locked away from him due to unrelated geopolitical events. This is the film the world never expected to see, at least in any completed form. Now, a cut that was screened at festivals (including this year’s Virginia Film Festival) has a home on Netflix, and the disorienting effect of seeing the Netflix logo right before An Orson Welles Picture is testament to its long journey to the screen.

The film tells the story of Jake Hannaford (John Huston) on the last day of his life. He is hosting a party for friends, colleagues, and press to view reels from his uncompleted film that has lost its leading man as well as studio support. What we’re seeing, we’re told, is spliced together from all the cameras and recording devices present at the party, interwoven with Hannaford’s film, making it among the first mockumentaries.

On one hand, The Other Side of the Wind is far removed from the original context in which it was made. The film is full of references to early- and mid-1970s characters, both the performers themselves as well as facsimiles. Astute viewers from that era will recognize characters based on Pauline Kael, John Milius, Robert Evans, and critic-cum-filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich, who stars as a version of himself. On the other, Welles has more in mind than settling scores with industry foes or kidding around with friends. Everything was in upheaval at this time—the film industry, media, politics, the world at large—and no one quite knows how to adjust, or if it is worth doing. Hannaford knows he’s done—his film is unfinishable, he’s lost out on millions of dollars, and his inner circle is at each other’s throats. Whether or not he knows he’s about to die (not a spoiler, this is in the opening of the movie a la Citizen Kane), he can feel the detachment of an artist who no longer belongs in the industry he once dominated.

Hannaford is not a sympathetic character. In fact, no one is. At first Huston portrays Hannaford as an amiable, quick-witted elder statesman, but gradually a kind of directionless hatred emerges within him. He is creepy toward younger women, exploitative of his admirers, and hostile toward those who made him famous. The party at his house is a circus with no ringleader, and his film is gorgeous yet meandering and pointless (with a strong condemnation of the masculine embodiment of “pursuit,” culminating in a woman stabbing a phallic edifice into full collapse).

The first 20 minutes may be tough to follow due to the unconventional approach to exposition—rapid-fire names, industry jargon, fast edits—but stick with it. The commentary on the voyeuristic food chain that is the film industry—directors gawking at actors, press hounding artists, insatiable public consumption of both—is palpable, while never condemning. A member of Hannaford’s inner circle comments that a “machine cannot produce more than it consumes.”

The Other Side of the Wind is best watched with its two documentary supplements (check out the Trailers section in Netflix). It is funny, adventurous, structurally bold, and engaging from front to back. One of the year’s must-see films.

The Other Side of the Wind

R, 122 minutes; netflix.com

Opening this week

Check theater websites for complete listings.

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema 377 Merchant Walk Sq., 326-5056

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Ralph Breaks the Internet

Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX The Shops at Stonefield, 244-3213

Bandstand: The Broadway Musical, Burn the Stage: The Movie, Coldplay: A Head Full of Dreams, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Instant Family, Ralph Breaks the Internet, Robin Hood, Widows

Violet Crown Cinema 200 W. Main St., Downtown Mall, 529-3000

Boy Erased, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, The Front Runner, The Mystery of Picasso, Widows

See it again

A Serious Man. R, 106 minutes. Violet Crown Cinema, November 20

Classic masters: Peter Bogdanovich puts Orson Welles and Buster Keaton back on the screen

By Justin Humphreys

arts@c-ville.com

Decades ago, actor/writer/director/film historian Peter Bogdanovich promised his friend and colleague Orson Welles that, if Welles couldn’t finish his work-in-progress, The Other Side of the Wind, he would complete it for him. Now, Bogdanovich, at age 79, has beaten countless setbacks and fulfilled that promise.

Academy Award-winning editor Bob Murawski and co-producer Frank Marshall worked with a team to parse 100 hours of Welles’ unedited footage, shot decades ago by a mostly deceased crew. Marshall describes the process as, “a cross between a jigsaw puzzle and a scavenger hunt.” Together, they assembled a cohesive work respectful of its legendary creator’s vision.

The Other Side of the Wind stars John Huston as Jake Hannaford, a vile, macho director, trying to revive his faltering career with a counterculture movie. Bogdanovich co-stars as director Brooks Otterlake, Hannaford’s protégé. The highly anticipated film will be shown on Sunday at the Paramount Theater.

In addition, Bogdanovich’s new documentary The Great Buster, which chronicles comic genius Buster Keaton’s turbulent life and career, will screen on Saturday.

Ironically, Keaton was one of the few classic Hollywood giants Bogdanovich didn’t interview. “I missed him by about two months,” Bogdanovich says. “I was just trying to find him and he died.” Bogdanovich spoke with C-VILLE by phone from France.

C-VILLE: After so many failed attempts at finishing The Other Side of the Wind, how did the film finally coalesce?

Peter Bogdanovich: After [producer] Filip [Rymsza] got the two women, Beatrice Welles [Orson’s daughter] and Oja Kodar [co-author/star], to collaborate on the picture, everything else seemed to fall into place. Netflix stepped up to the plate and they’ve been just incredible, I mean extraordinary—better than any studio I’ve worked for. We went over budget and they didn’t even mention it.

You were heavily involved in the editing?

Oh, sure. [The film’s veterans] all were. We all had input. Bob did a very good job. It was a long process. …Everybody worked on it very hard, very diligently, very dedicated, with a lot of love there.

Many of the film’s participants are now gone. How did it feel being one of the last men standing and watching the finished product?

A little strange. I mean, here I am in my 70s, watching myself in my 30s. That was pretty odd. And I hadn’t seen much of the footage with me in it . . . So it was quite an experience, actually. I haven’t quite dealt with it fully.

What was it like being directed by Orson?

That’s interesting. Orson Welles created an atmosphere on the set—not for the crew, but for the actors—where you absolutely felt like you could do anything. You never felt like you shouldn’t do something, or shouldn’t try something, it was a very free atmosphere where you could do anything you wanted. He laughed a lot and made us laugh. He made it a fun set for the actors. [Meanwhile] the crew worked like dogs, like slaves.

They got along famously, [Huston] and Orson. It was great. You know the climactic scene between Huston and me, where I stick my head in the window? Huston wasn’t there for that scene. I played that scene with Orson. That’s why it’s so emotional. And Orson’s only direction to me in that scene was ‘It’s us.’

I sensed throughout the film that it was so much about you two. It was touching.

I haven’t let myself really go with it emotionally. I just watch it and say ‘It’s brilliant and Orson’s brilliant.’ And it’s the best performance I ever gave in a movie, or anywhere.

How did The Great Buster come about?

I had met Charles Cohen before, the producer, I don’t know where. And he asked me if I would like to do a documentary on Buster Keaton, and I said, ‘Yeah, sure.’ And that was it.

It’s wonderful that Keaton was revered at the end of his life, after several rough decades.

Happily, the Venice Film Festival gave him that tribute, which allowed me, in the plot, to come back to the features at the end, which I thought was the one really good idea I had—to make it a celebration and come back to the features at the end rather than the middle.

What do you think is Keaton’s lasting genius as a filmmaker?

He always knew where to put the camera. He was a brilliant actor of comedy—extraordinary. He knew instinctively what to do.

What’s next for you?

I’m not quite sure. Paramount, out of the blue, asked to option The Killing of the Unicorn, the book I wrote about Dorothy Stratten, and they want to make a 10-hour series out of it. As far as features are concerned, the one I’m planning to do but I don’t know if I’ll do it next, because it’s a bit elaborate, is a comedy-drama-fantasy called Wait For Me, that I’ve been working on for 30 years. I think it’s the best thing I ever wrote.

The newly released Orson Welles film The Other Side of the Wind, starring John Huston, Welles, and Peter Bogdanovich, will be shown at the Paramount Theater on Sunday. Bogdanovich’s documentary on silent film star Buster Keaton, The Great Buster, screens at St. Anne’s-Belfield School on Saturday. Due to an injury, Bogdanovich will not appear in person, but he will participate in the scheduled discussions via Skype.