Do you think I should confess? To what? Committing masterpieces?
October 21, 2014 12:17 PM   Subscribe

Ladies and gentleman, by way of introduction, this is a film about trickery, fraud, about lies. Tell it by the fireside or in a marketplace or in a movie, almost any story is almost certainly some kind of lie. But not this time. This is a promise. For the next hour, everything you hear from us is really true and based on solid fact.
Orson Welles' cinematic confidence scam, F for Fake, gets a new two disc Blu-Ray Criterion Collection release this year. Ben Sampson offers a visual analysis in two parts, breaking down the film's layers of paradoxes.

As for the film itself... Welles begins by picking up the pieces of a project by Francois Reichenbach, examining the infamous art forger Elmyr de Hory, only to find Clifford Irving in his entourage. Irving, of course, was already planning his own titanic fraud, a fake biography of Howard Hughes. This sends Welles on a seventy-seven minute odyssey into the nature of fakes and of trickery, even revisiting Welles' own "War of the Worlds" hoax. It's an elaborate fun house mirror of a film, ruminating on art and fakery.

Check out the restoration of Welles' own never-used original trailer.

The re-release is also available streaming on Hulu Plus or in an older release (with Spanish subtitles) on YouTube.

Previously.
posted by DirtyOldTown (25 comments total) 45 users marked this as a favorite
 
I love this film/documentary, having got the chance to see it twice on the big screen (at the amazing AFI Silver). It really shows a mastery of craft, and an understanding of narrative while also presenting this wonderful discussion of authenticity. I once described it to a friend as "filmic jazz".
posted by X-Himy at 12:19 PM on October 21, 2014 [3 favorites]


B for Brilliant.
posted by johnofjack at 12:27 PM on October 21, 2014


This movie is so ridiculously fun and accessible and enjoyable. I have to be careful not to even put it on unless I have time to watch the entire thing because it's just irresistible.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:30 PM on October 21, 2014


The "One Man Band" feature-length doc on the Criterion disc is alone worth the price of admission.
posted by hadlexishere at 12:33 PM on October 21, 2014 [2 favorites]


By the way, that trailer I posted above is closer to being its own nine minute short film than a proper trailer. It's not footage from the movie, it's stuff Welles shot three years after finishing the film with Gary Graver to promote the US release.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:51 PM on October 21, 2014 [1 favorite]


One of my top 10 films.
posted by naju at 12:56 PM on October 21, 2014 [1 favorite]


My introduction to Wells was his Paul Masson wine commercials. That was really bad wine. Confess to that.
posted by thelonius at 1:10 PM on October 21, 2014 [2 favorites]


Orson Welles Paul Masson Champagne outtakes. You have never been this drunk in your entire life.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:13 PM on October 21, 2014 [8 favorites]


For anyone wanting to watch this in the US that doesn't have Hulu Plus, TCM will be airing it this Saturday night (actually early Sunday monring) at 1am PST/4am EST, so set your DVRs or take a nap to stay up!
posted by JauntyFedora at 1:19 PM on October 21, 2014 [7 favorites]


I saw this movie for the first time via Netflix DVD last year, and it was brilliant.
posted by localroger at 1:22 PM on October 21, 2014


F for Phony would have been a more accurate title.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 1:38 PM on October 21, 2014 [1 favorite]


For anyone wanting to watch this in the US that doesn't have Hulu Plus, TCM will be airing it this Saturday night (actually early Sunday monring) at 1am PST/4am EST, so set your DVRs or take a nap to stay up!

Accidentally catching this movie starting on a previous TCM showing with no idea what I was getting myself into is a perfect example of why I keep paying too much for cable.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:51 PM on October 21, 2014 [1 favorite]


I'm a little confused, is it "to be released this year" or did it get released today?

Is the BD set one disc or two? I don't see any mention of a second disc on the Criterion web site or at Amazon...maybe I'm missing something?
posted by trackofalljades at 2:02 PM on October 21, 2014


The "One Man Band" feature-length doc on the Criterion disc is alone worth the price of admission.

Also the full-length commentary track with Oja Kodar and Gary Graver. They offer some excellent insider perspective on Welles' process and vision. The man was a force.

As a sort of partial corollary to this post, there's a discussion on FanFare right now for The Hoax, that Richard Gere trainwreck that tried to tell the Clifford Irving/Howard Hughes story.

(F for Fake is a favorite of mine too, right near the top.)
posted by carsonb at 2:12 PM on October 21, 2014


It came out today, actually, in most places. I think it was released in June in some. My mistake on the discs. Two discs for the DVD, one for the Blu-Ray. Same content on both.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:14 PM on October 21, 2014


When this was originally released by Criterion on DVD a few years ago it was a 2 disc set. The new Bluray looks to be a new HD transfer with the same extras as the DVD release but on a single disc.
posted by cnelson at 2:17 PM on October 21, 2014


Can't recommend this movie enough, but also can't recommend going in to it as blind as possible. Worth every minute of the time, and don't think I've ever heard somebody complain otherwise.
posted by GreyboxHero at 2:53 PM on October 21, 2014


This is my favourite movie. I have the Madman Entertainment "Director's Suite" version on DVD, which I seem to recall was only one disc - the extras on the Criterion version look good (particularly the Irving interview), it's a shame I didn't wait around to pick that version up. Maybe I'll have to buy a Blu-Ray player now?

Here's a little introduction to the film by Peter Bogdanovich. I didn't see it in the FPP, but you might enjoy it.
posted by curious.jp at 3:28 PM on October 21, 2014 [1 favorite]


> Can't recommend this movie enough, but also can't recommend going in to it as blind as possible.

No way. I first experienced it with nothing more to go on than Orson Welle's fame and a cryptic twenty-word summary in the school newspaper. It was still a great movie.
posted by ardgedee at 5:34 PM on October 21, 2014


One of the most delightful film experiences I've ever had. I didn't know much about it going in (though I was already a big Orson Welles fan -- it took a while to track this one down).

I'm tempted to compare the sheer originality and achievement of F FOR FAKE's editing to the cinematography of KANE or AMBERSONS, though that analogy would require overlooking those films' cinematographers, of course.
posted by chimpsonfilm at 7:25 PM on October 21, 2014 [2 favorites]


Everyone hated it at the time it was released too didn't they? Lord what foots these mortals be.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:39 PM on October 21, 2014 [2 favorites]


MetaFilter: Lord what foots these mortals be.
posted by ostranenie at 9:06 PM on October 21, 2014 [3 favorites]


Oh, that's a typo.

I meant to say DO go in as blind as possible...you want to know as little as you can while watching it.

Horrible mistake to make, hopefully I didn't ruin this for anybody.
posted by GreyboxHero at 9:16 AM on October 22, 2014 [2 favorites]


If you have 2 and half minutes to spare, this kinda profound little scene is worth it: Chartres.
posted by ovvl at 6:39 PM on October 22, 2014 [1 favorite]


Snap Judgment has an Elmyr (and Mark) segment.
posted by mwhybark at 10:33 PM on October 24, 2014


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