The Other Side of the Wind **** ½ / *****
Directed by: Orson
Welles.
Written by: Oja Kodar
& Orson Welles.
Starring: John Huston (Jake
Hannaford), Robert Random (John Dale), Peter Bogdanovich (Brooks Otterlake), Susan
Strasberg (Julie Rich), Oja Kodar (Actress), Joseph McBride (Pister), Lilli
Palmer (Zarah Valeska), Edmond O'Brien (Pat Mullins), Mercedes McCambridge (Maggie
Noonan), Cameron Mitchell (Zimmer), Paul Stewart (Matt Costello), Peter Jason (Grover),
Tonio Selwart (The Baron), Alan Grossman (Charles Higgam), Geoffrey Land (Max
David), Norman Foster (Billy Boyle), Dennis Hopper (Dennis Hopper), Gregory
Sierra (Jack Simon), Benny Rubin (Abe Vogel), Dan Tobin (Dr. Burroughs), George
Jessel (Himself), Richard Wilson (Dick), Claude Chabrol (Himself), Stéphane
Audran (Herself), Henry Jaglom (Himself), Paul Mazursky (Paul).
For
decades now, Orson Welles’ The Other Side of the Wind has been one of the most
infamous “unfinished” films in history – something Welles knew a lot about,
since his filmography is riddled with incomplete, unfinished or abandoned
projects, many of which exist in some sort of rough form or clips or, well,
something else. The Other Side of the Wind is perhaps alone among them though
in that at least all the footage existed, there was a partially edited version
of the film by Welles himself, and a lot of notes about what he wanted the film
to be. And yet, the film has languished in a vault since before Welles’ death in
1985 – held hostage by various legal reasons. Now, at long last, the film exists
– and whether it resembles whatever film Welles wanted to make is unknown and
unknowable – I think everyone involved should be commended for trying to stick
with Welles’ vision for the film, but the mere fact that Welles shot the film
over a six-year period – from 1970 to 1976 – makes you wonder if Welles himself
had any real idea for what the movie should be. It is also clear from watching
the film, that it is a film of great contradictions – a film in love with
cinema, that also hates cinema, and a film that comes from a place of deep
self-loathing from Welles. He insisted the film wasn’t autobiographical – but
no one believed him, nor should they. This is clearly a film about Welles –
something that could only have been clearer had John Huston turned down the
lead role, because Welles himself admitted that had Huston done that, he would
have to play the lead role himself. I’m torn about whether this would have been
good or bad for the final film – because on one hand, Huston is wonderful here,
and on the other, I would have loved to see Welles himself play the role.
So what,
precisely, is The Other Side of the Wind? One thing it isn’t, is like anything
else Welles had directed before. Welles very clearly was paying attention to
how all those younger filmmakers in the late 1960s – and on through the 1970s –
had changed cinema, and also had some contradictory thoughts on it. On the
surface, the film is split in two – cutting between the 70th
birthday party of the great Jake Hannaford, a towering film director, whose
films everyone loved and who is still a legend – but now, has been put out to
pasture, not forgotten by the industry really, but no one is paying attention
to what he wants to make anymore. He is broke, and working on a new movie –
also called The Other Side of the Wind – which is the other part of the movie.
The film within the film we see is clearly a take on European art house cinema
at the time – mostly clearly an Antonioni film (Zabriskie Point most
specifically), but as with everything else in the film, it’s impossible to tell
whether Welles hates Antonioni, or loves him – probably both. The visuals in
that film within the film are slick, and colorful – it’s almost dialogue free,
and contains sexually that borders on the explicit – something Welles had
never, ever come close to before. It contrasts with the what takes place at
Hannaford’s party, which is presumably a bunch of footage from the various
chroniclers and paparazzi at the party – almost all of it handheld, different
film stocks, some black and white, some color, all spliced together to tell the
story of this bitter, old man, who spits poison at almost everyone around him.
Welles fills the film with characters based on then contemporary figures in the
film industry – the Pauline Kael stand-in played by Susan Strasberg is obvious,
as is the Peter Bogdanovich stand-in, but in that case it may have something to
do with the fact that Bogdanovich is playing the character himself.
This is
clearly a bitter film – an angry film – and Welles had plenty of reason to be
angry by this point in his career. He had made Citizen Kane (1941) as his
debut, and it was oft-cited at the time as the best film ever made (it still
is) – and yet, every directorial effort he had made since Kane involved some
sort of sacrifice or compromise – forced studio edits, abandoned projects, etc.
Welles was a genius at many times – but playing the Hollywood game wasn’t one
of them. Perhaps the casting of Huston was perfect for the film, because Huston
was the opposite. Huston was in many ways a genius filmmaker himself – but he
was able to bend, but not break, in his dealings with the studios – able to get
his films made, even if he also made some films that weren’t exactly stellar. It
adds another layer of anger to the film.
The Other
Side of the Wind is full of contradictions – but thrillingly so. Neither of the
film inside The Other Side of the Wind look anything like anything Welles had
done before. When you consider how he film and edited the party scenes, you
realize that Welles was years ahead of what anyone else was even thinking at
that time in terms of that sort of shooting. The scenes in the movie within the
movie are daring, beautiful and erotic. Already one of those sequences – where
Oja Kodar, credited as Welles’ co-writer on the film, and was also his
girlfriend at the time, has sex with the leading man, John Dale (Robert Random)
– who in the real life of the film, Hannaford may be obsessed with erotically
himself (there is A LOT going on in the film) in a car. That sequences, all
wordless, goes on minute after minute, and is erotic, and also makes you very
uncomfortable watching – at the same time. I’m not sure even Antonioni could
have pulled that sequence off at the height of his powers.
Most of
the time, when some long lost work by a famous artist is rediscovered and
released to the world, it doesn’t really change the way we view that artist.
Sadly, sometimes, there is a reason the work was long lost. Here, I’m not sure
if The Other Side of the Wind changes the way we will view Welles in future
generations – but it does confirm that even to the end, he was ahead of the
curve in many ways. Perhaps Welles never wanted to finish the movie – perhaps,
had he actually finished it, it would not look anything like this current
version. But this version is one that will be discussed and analyzed and
dissected for years to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment