ORSON WELLES' AND HIS FINAL FILM, ITS COMPANION 'MAKING OF' DOCUMENTARY & HOUSE OF CARDS SEASON 6
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND
In the late 60’s/early 70’s, when Orson Welles started filming his independently financed film The Other Side of the Wind, the former-wunderkind and globetrotting bon vivant seemed to have fully given himself over to his proclivities for food, drink and all things excessive. Welles in those years was extremely rotund, ebullient and endlessly energetic raconteur. In the years prior, he had independently made his films The Trial, Chimes at Midnight and Othello – with impressive results. But for this one, funding proved difficult, ultimately he found cash backing from a Paris-based company associated with the Shah of Iran. This unfinished film was completed by two of its original producers, with the help of Netflix, so the editing style and the tone are based on the notes and initial edits of Orson Welles himself. Given that Citizen Kane, Welles much lauded first film, was based on the real life travails of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst – and is also about the death of its protagonist and the recollections of that protagonist by those who worked and lived alongside him - THIS film is something of a bookend to Citizen Kane as it ostensibly features a main character who is a blatant avatar for Welles and features a very ‘meta’ plot. It consists of two narrative conceits playing concurrently: The Other Side of the Wind is at once a shaky, hand-held documentary about the final day in the life of a master filmmaker who’s been relegated to the periphery of Hollywood - named Jake Hannaford (played by real-life Director of The Maltese Falcon and Treasure of the Sierra Madre, John Huston). Hannaford hosts a party to screen unfinished portions of his latest film, called The Other Side of the Wind, and he invites a gaggle of journalists, writers and showbiz hangers-on to tag along, follow him everywhere - and then film and document every moment – like a bizarre proto-reality show. So the documentary parts of the film are cut together from the footage shot by the roving band of cameras. That ‘documentary’ is interrupted by sequences from Hannaford’s film-within-the-film, also called The Other Side of the Wind, which is essentially an arty-farty sexploitation film, which stars Croatian actress Oja Kodar – who was a collaborator, co-writer and lover of Welles – and it’s shot in an overly stylised and dramatic way that seems like Welles’ is making a parody of Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni films, mocking the emergent New Hollywood films of the time (Easy Rider’s Dennis Hopper features during the party scenes) and commenting on the death of the old style studio system. Overall, the film is very tongue-in-cheek in terms of its view of Hollywood and how it chews people up and spits them out. Stylistically it almost could’ve been an Altman film, with improvised, overlapping dialogue and unconventional editing much like Nashville.
Ultimately though, I was fascinated but not engaged – I personally found the film to be overshadowed by the circumstances it was created in, that said, it’s still quite fantastic that Netflix stepped in to see this project completed and distributed to a very wide audience - whether or not any of this might appeal to you is probably dependent on how intrigued you are by Welles as a creative force and his significance in the history of film.
THEY’LL LOVE ME WHEN I’M DEAD
This companion-piece documentary covers the production of The Other Side of the Wind which has also been produced by Netflix, it’s called They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead - it lays out the 40-year journey this film has had to get to the screen. When Orson Welles follow-up to Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, was taken from him and re-cut, Welles was disillusioned with Hollywood and wandered the European and American film landscape, very much as an outsider. He independently produced The Trial, Othello and Chime at Midnight, returning to Hollywood in 1958 to direct Charlton Heston (as a Mexican!) in Touch of Evil. Though it’s now considered a classic – at the time the studio’s hostility towards the film that Welles had made, caused Welles to leave the US and head for Europe, where he essentially became a journeyman, an actor for hire, ploughing his money into independent films. In 1985, Orson Welles died, the 100 odd hours of film footage sitting abandoned. The rights to the film were caught up in a legal rights hell and it was thought to be a lost project.
Frank Marshall was a young – and very green - producer on The Other Side of the Wind, but in the decades since then, he’s become a successful director/producer - producing every Spielberg film since Raiders of the Lost Ark – and his wife is Kathleen Kennedy, the Head of Lucasfilm at Disney – so he’s got the connections and the clout to pull together this uncompleted film and see it finished.
Overall, the ‘making of’ documentary and the film itself form a fascinating tale of Welles mercurial creative will. If the film isn’t to your tastes, I highly recommend the documentary, it’s a must-see for film fans and even for those with a passing interest in Hollywood history.
HOUSE OF CARDS - SEASON 6
House of Cards production was severely hampered by the revelations of it’s star Kevin Spacey’s conduct on and off the set. Season 6 was in doubt and it’s a surprise that the show-runners and stars were able to pivot so effectively and move ahead with Robin Wright in the lead. Not wanting to spoil it too much, but suffice to say the latest season opens with Wright’s US President Claire Underwood under siege - being briefed by her Chief of Staff on the death threats that have been made against her. Claire is defiant, almost enjoying the hatred and vitriol that is flying her way - she breaks the fourth wall to talk to the camera, just as Frank did, though she’s more antagonistic and possibly even scarier than Frank. Greg Kinnear and Diane Lane play brother and sister conservative’s Annette and Bill Shepherd, who are essentially versions of the real-life billionaire Koch Brothers, though they have more personal ties to Frank and Claire and to the white house. They have their own agenda’s and when they don’t get their way, they threaten to complicate Claire’s presidency in pretty dark and unexpected ways. If anything, the show goes to great lengths to continue plot threads from a few seasons ago and to tie up loose ends with old characters, probably in an effort to balance the story in preparation for Claire taking centre stage – but the needn’t have bothered – Robin Wright is brilliant in this - Frank’s spectre looms large over the proceedings – which – given just how awesome Robin Wright is in the lead – is a little bit unnecessary. Even so, this is a really enjoyable season – Claire was always something of a Lady Macbeth to Frank’s Macbeth – dark, scheming and capable – and more willing to cross moral and legal lines to get what she wants. It’s great that Wright gets to see this series to its conclusion by taking center stage. Highly recommended.