An art forger, a biographer who faked having wrote from a legitimate source(Howard Hughes himself), and some 17 minutes about a Oja Koder's deathbed grandfather wanting Picasso's approval over 22 paintings of his beautiful daughter--Orson Welles sure knew how to weave quite a compelling film. F for Fake was given birth thanks to a fraud, Clifford Irving, who also put together a biograph on the skilled art forger, Elmry de Hory, known for creating such close resemblances to those who inspired him that supposed art experts were even fooled. François Reichenbach, who shot a documentary about Elmry, partnered with Welles over footage with both Irving and de Hory, and the rest is history, F for Fake a dedicated film to the art of charlatanism. I can't imagine this being as entertaining without the larger-than-life presence of Welles. He spends time in his editing room showing us pieces of footage, spending time with that marvelously gifted narrative voice, poking gleeful fun at his subjects, in mostly subtle, yet amusing ways. Welles had a genius I so admire and a wit I pine for but will never attain. He even admits to being a sort of fraud himself, the whole fiasco concerning martians attacking across the radio in his "War of the Worlds" broadcast, telling the Irish that he was a star on the Broadway stage, and how CITIZEN KANE was in fact supposed to be about Howard Hughes, not that other guy. The way Welles chides critics of art and how Elmry may've been a forger but the dealers who benefited from his fraudulence were just as crooked as their client. I just couldn't get enough of Welles moving about in a cape, performing magic tricks, or sitting in a café talking about the men in his film to a chuckling audience, not to mention his brilliant tale of Picasso and the luscious, elegant Kodar's inspiring him into a mad frenzy(along with Kodar's "trombone jazz playing brother in the French village of Houdan)supposedly bringing to life a "new period" which yielded those portraits she's said to have taken away with her. I could make mention of the way Welles edited the film in a breakneck pace, but that's been covered on numerous occasions and how its an essential part of compelling the audience, keeping us from being bored to tears with his subjects(the humor and personality of Elmry, as well as, Welles' presence keep that from happening, however). It bounces about and I figure many will consider it haphazard and aggravating, but I didn't mind Welles' structure in the slightest, it all still has a central focus in regards to truth and fiction and how it's not necessarily always easy to distinguish between the two. My favorite scene(besides Welles and Kodar in a performance as Picasso and her dying father respectively)has to be when either Elmry or Irving is caught in a lie over whether or not the artist put a signature at the bottom of his works, a pause from both as if neither were correct in what they were saying(and, as Welles had successfully done, we can not trust either men, because both made income from deception). In the end both men's reputations were tainted so karma got somewhat even.
Review of F for Fake
