Monday, March 13, 2023

F for Fake (1973)

IMDb plot summary: A documentary about fraud and fakery.
Directed by Orson Welles.

F for Fake is an unusual sort of documentary, made by Orson Welles and focusing primarily on a famous art forger and his biographer. On the whole, though, the film is more of an essay than a representation of the facts, and features Welles as himself commenting on the nature of art and deception and authenticity. This is certainly a unique film, and one that greatly benefits from being interested in the kinds of ideas Welles is exploring. It's creatively put together and I definitely haven't seen anything quite like it. It is, however, hard to escape how pretentious the whole thing feels, Welles stepping in and using other people's lives to pontificate at the audience, and at times that rubs me the wrong way, so my interest kept fading in and out throughout the story. The ending is strong and pulls me back into it, and I admire what it's trying to do, even when it doesn't entirely work for me.

How it entered my Flickchart:
F for Fake > My Week With Marilyn
F for Fake < Anna Karenina
F for Fake < Die Hard
F for Fake > Spider Baby or, The Maddest Story Ever Told
F for Fake > Albert Nobbs
F for Fake < The Hidden Fortress
F for Fake < Suddenly, Last Summer
F for Fake > Mosaic
F for Fake < How to Marry a Millionaire
F for Fake < The Curse of the Jade Scorpion
F for Fake > Mother Night
F for Fake > Mr. Holmes
Final spot: #1515 out of 3774, or 60%.

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