F for Fake versus F for Fake - regarding the two DVD releases

[Jeff Wilson]

Excellent review, Jaime. I would say don't take my word as the be-all of video reviews, as I'm no expert on such matters, just giving opinions like you have. R Kadin, you do have a region free player, right? The Japanese disc is coded for region 2, so it won't play if your player isn't set for that. If so, then it should play; I've played mine on two stand-alone players and two different DVD-Roms, and it's worked fine.

[R Kadin]

Jaime/Jeff... that's part of my problem, I suspect: my GoldStar DVD player is region-specific and my PC's DVD-ROM device was likewise limited to Region 1.

However, it gets more complicated: from the graphic symbols on the box, I would swear the thing says its Region 1 coded (it has the numeral "1" inside the black TV-screen-shaped border) AND I did some online research and found/downloaded/installed some "firmware" that is supposed to unlock my particular DVD-ROM device's Regional limitations and still no-go.

So, I have emailed HMV for their advice and I'll look around to see if maybe I can take it to an electronics store where there might be a region-free machine on sale and test it there. I've looked online for region-free devices for sale here in Canada; but everything offered would come out of the U.S., which means big currency mark-ups, hefty shipping & handling costs, duties, taxes, no warranty coverage, etc., etc... and they'll insist on delivering only when there's not going to be anyone at home.

Life can be hard in Iglooville...*sigh*

(BTW, anybody interested in the possibility of liberating your PC's DVD-ROM from its Regional Code shackels can check out http://www.regionfreedvd.net/rom.html and also http://www.visualdomain.net/ for more on this)

[Jeff Wilson]

That "1" you're referring to relates to the subtitles; it says "nihongo jimaku" right next to it, as the subs are in Japanese, and they are the only ones on the disc. Further over to the right, to the left of the DVD logo, you'll see a globe with the number 2 inside it; that's the region code.

DVD-Roms can certainly be made region free, as most players will let you change the code five times before making it permanent; this is easier to get around than a pre-set player, which needs to have the firmware changed. This site (link below) has info than about making DVD-Roms region free, using a program called DVD Genie. Programs like this basically fool your player into letting you reset your region code as many times as you need.

DVD Genie site

[R Kadin]

Thanks, Jeff; you're a good man - and with some facility in Japanese(?) to boot. Quite the skill, that.

I'll keep at my quest, of course, as I really REALLY like this film.

I remember dragging my wife (not a Welles fan) on a 2 1/2 hour cross-country road chase after work one midweek summer's eve ("You-don't-need-to-freshen-up- hon-you-look-just-great - let's GO!!!!") over 25 years ago based on a rumour that there was to be a hush-hush sneak preview of something Welles was calling, most curiously, "F for Fake" at 8PM in the smallish town that hosts our Stratford Shakespearean Festival.

We careened into town with barely 15 minutes to spare only to realize we had no idea where to find the theatre and had maybe 5 minutes to go when we finally pulled up, Bonnie & Clyde like, at the right place. Right place, it might have been - and the right date & time, as well; but little did we know that Welles had decided to yank the film back for more editing at the last minute. A hastily-composed sign taped to the inside of the darkened theatre's glass entrance door offered an explanation that can best be compared to Seinfeld's Soup Nazi's, "No soup for YOU!" When the wife didn't divorce me on the spot, I knew then and there it must be love.

So, now you all know the particularly personal debt I owe our man. Yes, indeedy: I can truthfully proclaim that OW brought me and the little woman together for the long haul that fateful night. Not that she saw it quite the same way, though...

And so it was always with Welles, was it not? L'amour... toujours l'amour...

[Jeff Wilson]

That's a great story; my wife had to endure a trip to Indiana University and sitting around all day while I did research at the Lilly, so I understand where you're coming from. And I'm studying Japanese right now, so I can handle some of the copy on the Fake DVD, which is handy in that regard. Hopefully you'll crack the disc play problem. It's annoying to have the disc at hand and not be able to play it, I'm sure.

[R Kadin]

And once more, Jeff, am I am in your debt. The DVD Genie was, indeed, pure magic and the ugly barricade between yours truly and my Japanese "F for Fake" has been rent asunder, the regents of the Regional Codes have been dispatched back to their odious aeries, defeated and humbled, to conjure up some other silly tricks by which they might return one day to divide the world into those who possess this delightful vol-au-vent and those who do not.

I have to say that, as great as my expectations were, the intervening years have had me forget just how energized and innovative this film is... full of undulating rhythms and swirling threads - a chuckling, beguiling moebius strip of a movie. Such vigour in the editing, such easy command of a truly baffling array of interlocking frauds, and such fabulous style in the telling!

Not to mention the colour! Welles in colour, for God's sake!! Like he had been born to it, like it was nothing at all - just another little variation worked into his magic act. An inestimable treat, and one I thank you all for helping make happen.

[Jeff Wilson]

I'm glad it worked. I take great pleasure in giving the technological finger to Hollywood and their bogus region coding scheme every time I fire up my DVD player.

F for Fake is a wonder, an amazing film, particularly given the footage already shot by Reichenbach that Welles seamlessly worked together and manipulated to great effect.

[Jaime N. Christley]

It seems, based on F for Fake, that Reichenbach and Himself got along like old drinking buddies, and that would certainly account for the air of optimism and esprit de corps that pervades the film. If that's not true in real life, well, it's damn well hidden.

I'd like to add that I fully ID with the sense of discovery one feels when experiencing the movie for the first time - or the first time in so many years. So exhilarating - sexy, high-spirited, provocative, instructive...and what a wonderful Legrand score. I think it's the overlooked Welles film, and yet it's as worthy of lengthy study and reflection as Kane, Ambersons, TOE, Falstaff, or any of the other ones.

I'll e-mail you some screenshots from the Brazilian disc, Jeff, hopefully in a few days. I'll try and get the same ones you have from the Japanese disc, but also some examples of where the picture is really bad. And I'll scan the cover for you, if I can commandeer a scanner locally.

[R Kadin]

Hear, hear, Jaime C., re your kudos.

I think it's because Welles makes it all look so effortless and fun that the immense artistry within this film slips past the viewer virtually unnoticed - as would have been Welles' intent. As fluid and stylish as the sleights-of-hands with which he delights us throughout, as seamless as a 10-second flourish of Picasso's hand transforming a blank canvas into a $70,000 prize. "It's pretty; but, is it art?"

And, just for fun, how's this for an interesting little interactive question: what current, extremely popular visual idiom does F for Fake most foreshadow? (Hint: think 1976 before considering an answer.)

[Jaime N. Christley]

Argh!

The Brazilian DVD cuts out right after Oja says "The best critical opinion is a load of horse manure." Ak! There's no more movie after that! Son of a bitch!

Oh well - the seller offered to refund my money, and said there were other buyers with the same trouble (no big surprise).

Hmmm - I think this should be treated as an accident, and someone interested in the disc should know it for the poor pic quality, not of my (and a few other buyers') defective disc. In other words, my suggestion is to retain my review as it is, and treat my experience as an anomaly. Will be forwarding screen shots and cover scan forthwith.

[R Kadin]

Forget "The horror. The horror". Jaime C has emerged from the jungles of Brazil crying, "The defect! The defect!".

I doubt I would have been as even-keeled as you about that problem, Jaime; so, props to you. I came so close to it with my initial difficulties with the Japanese DVD that my poor PC-based player began to see its little life start to pass before its eyes.

However, with Jeff Wilson's effective advice about the DVD Genie (and some great new med's from my psychotherapist), I am happy to report I am feeling MUCH better about things now...lol

And, on another note, in all my comments on the film so far I have made no mention of the thunderously stunning Ms. Kodar. Therefore, to quote that most essential of all modern Western philopsophers, Professor Sammy Davis Jr., "What kind of fool am I?"

To what, I ask my esteemed Wellesnet colleagues, can her delicious footage in this film be compared? No need to answer, since there is no response that can cope with the question... with all due respect to the distaff side of this site, of course. If ever there were a visual metaphor for the power of one human to appeal to the appetites of another, the scenes of Ms. Kodar slinking regally through those sun-drenched Ibizan streets would be it. Please feel free, those so inclined, to take notes - copious notes..

And, speaking a moment before of questions, the answer to my own quiz query about foreshadowing, above, is no less a present-day idiom than ..............?

Why, music videos! Of course!!

[Jaime N. Christley]

I think I'll check out that DVD Genie - although I have a code-free player for my TV set, my computer will only play R1s and certain R2s: it'll play my Spanish Chimes at Midnight, but not my Spanish Cat People nor my French Jour de fête. My Brazilian F for Fake is no problem, but with my Japanese edition it has no idea.

Music videos - hmm, I don't know if F for Fake really sets a precedent in that area, considering that the short form, musical performance, and fast, clever cutting were around long before 1975. How did you mean to place it in that context?

Here's the first few screenshots from the Brazil F - subtitles are my choice (not burned in). The quality of these images should be the final nail in this coffin:

PIXELS ARE NOT AS EVIDENT DURING PLAYBACK - HOWEVER, THE OVERALL GRIMINESS OF THE IMAGES IS ACCURATELY DEPICTED.

[Jaime N. Christley]

And some more - again, subtitles are my choice.

[Jaime N. Christley]

Jeff - the last two screen shots would have been from after the disc cut out. Otherwise, you have compare & contrast pics for all of yours from the Imagica DVD.

[Fredric]

Jaime-see,

Thanks for the captures. I finally got my Reichenbach Avatar.

Now, all I need is that German yelling into the phone from Arkadin. Anyone?