The work of film essayist Mark Cousins can be a bit precious and navel-gazing. (Fine if the navel in question weren’t his but the subject’s!) But in this fresh take on Orson Welles’ life & legacy, the style suits Cousins and subject equally well. Probably the best film on Welles. (Or is till Cousins misguidedly continues into post-mortem supposition.) Aided by Welles' lifelong habit of sketching everything he was thinking about, Cousins organizes a peripatetic life with drawings casual and frame-worthy; by-passing protective moats to enter the Wellesian fortress. Focusing more on the work than the life, this telling is immediately enveloping even for what’s not in here. Not a word on weight. Nothing on Hollywood disappointments. Passing over the WAR OF THE WORLDS scandal. Indeed, not quite enough on mundane commercial success as actor (largely for self-financing projects) or showing how Welles could coopt the system when it fit his purpose. Instead, his astounding range of media reinvention (radio, film, theater), and nods at some bravely controversial political stands, particularly on race issues far ahead of the curve. Much of this told thru a previously overlooked treasure of archival holdings of those quick-stroke drawings. The University of Michigan archives seems an especially rich repository.* Revelatory stuff.
DOUBLE-BILL: The film points out a couple of attempts at dramatizing events: Richard Linklater’s ME AND ORSON WELLES/’08 surprisingly worthy; Tim Robbins’ CRADLE WILL ROCK/’99 weirdly mean-spirited. Or look for most of his own work covered within. Just type the title wanted into our SEARCH Box located on the Main Site (left side/top of the page).
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: *Has a collected exhibition using work spread across various institutions ever been attempted?
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: Cousins errs in showing clips from TOUCH OF EVIL/’58 in Academy Ratio (1.33:1). The full frame negative was meant to be cropped down to 1.85:1, common practice at the time in many non-anamorphic films. Universal Pictures was apt to send out uncropped full-frame prints where, if shown without the correct aperture plate, they'd reveal all sorts of studio-set artifice (lights, girders, wiring) hanging above the intended image.
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