Reactions to 'The Other Side of the Wind'

[Wellesnet]

HITC on The Importance of Orson Welles and "The Other Side of the Wind":
https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2018/12/28/t ... -the-wind/

The film is inspiring, and above all its existence speaks one truth: even today, in his absence, we need the films of Orson Welles. Some say the recently released film is a masterpiece, others say it’s a mess, but no matter how you look at it, it is important.

[RayKelly]

Ashley Carter | Left Lion ― Best Films of 2018 list:

"After almost 50 years in production, Orson Welles’ great unfinished film was finally released this year. Surely anything that you’ve been made to wait half a century for could only disappoint? Not only did The Other Side of the Wind meet expectations but, somehow, it exceeded them. We’ll never know if this was the film he intended it to be, but it simply feels every inch a Welles film, in all its frustrating, mischievous, enigmatic brilliance. John Huston is excellent as aging auteur Jake Hannaford, the part Welles, part Hemingway filmmaker we know is about to die, attempting to forge one last comeback with a film that is an incomprehensible Antonioni parody. Peter Bogdanovich, who deserves immense credit for his role in bringing the film to screen, is equally great as Brooks Otterlake, his young protégé. This film will be debated and reappraised for years to come, but for right now, it feels like a beautifully satisfying bookend to the remarkable career of Orson Welles."

[Wellesnet]

The (Menlo Park, Calif.) Almanac ― No. 1 on its Top 10 of 2018 list:

"A long-coveted Holy Grail for cineastes, Orson Welles' The Other Side of the Wind finally dropped in 2018, 33 years after its maker's death. Wind in many ways serves as a sort of semi-autobiographical bookend to Citizen Kane in ruthlessly dissecting a deeply flawed but high-powered master of his domain -- in this case, Hollywood. John Huston plays film director Jake Hannaford, a Hemingway-esque macho man whose bravado barely conceals secrets and insecurities. Welles obviously intended his unfinished film to be an intellectual and emotional whirlwind; Welles edited about 40 minutes before his death, and Oscar-winner Bob Murawski creditably finished the job, granting us a gift from the movie gods."

[NoFake]

From an interview with Jean-Luc Godard’s cinematographer Fabrice Aragno in the current (January/February 2018) issue of Film Comment. Make of it what you will:

Q: Could you talk a bit more about what you do with the material JLG gives you—the edit he has made with his DVCAM recorder from what he plays on his TV.

A: You know how in postproduction you are supposed to color-correct the picture so everything is smooth and even? Jean-Luc wants the opposite. He wants the rupture. Color and then black and white, or different intensities of color. Or how in this film, sometimes you see the ratio of the frame change after the image begins. That happens when he records from his TV onto his old DVCAM analog machine, which is so old we can’t even find parts when it needs to be repaired. The TV takes time to recognize and adjust to the format on the DVD or the Blu-ray. Whether it’s 1:33 or 1:85. And one of the TVs he uses is slower than the other. He wants to keep all that. I could correct it, but he doesn’t want me to. See, here’s an image from War and Peace. [Shows sequence on his laptop] He did the overlays of color—red, white, and blue—using an old analog video effects machine. That’s why you have the blur. When I tried to redo it in digital, I couldn’t. The edges were too sharp. And why the image jitters—I don’t know how he did that. Playing with the cable maybe. Handmade. He wants to see that. It’s a gift from his old machine.

Here's the interview:

https://www.filmcomment.com/article/the-hand-of-time/

[Wellesnet]

The National Society of Film Critics bestowed its Film Heritage Award today on the recently completed The Other Side of Wind.

The Film Heritage Award was given to "the team of producers, editors, restorers, technicians and cineastes who labored for decades to bring Orson Welles' The Other Side of Wind to completion for a new generation of movie lovers."

Producers Frank Marshall and Filip Jan Rymsza each tweeted their thanks to the critics group for the honor.

[nickleschichoney]

A negative review: https://www.scriptmag.com/reviews/film- ... reciations

Good thing to know he’s pro-Pauline Kael. Apparently Wellesians just threw a fit and that was the only reply she received.

[RayKelly]

A negative review: https://www.scriptmag.com/reviews/film- ... reciations
Good thing to know he’s pro-Pauline Kael. Apparently Wellesians just threw a fit and that was the only reply she received.

Obviously, he is entitled to his opinion and I agree newcomer Oja Kodar is not as gifted or experienced a screenwriting partner as veteran Herman Mankiewicz. But is is embarrassing that someone who has taught film courses at a LA community college for 30 years would embrace Pauline Kael's discredited Raising Kane in light of the defense offered by Welles/Bogdanovich in The Kane Mutiny, and, of course, Robert Carringers The Scripts of Citizen Kane.
https://classic.esquire.com/article/1972/10/1/the-kane-mutiny
https://www.scribd.com/document/231563552/The-Scripts-of-Citizen-Kane-R-Carringer

[I=Eye]

I don't understand your re-cut. I like the removal of Rich Little.

Is that one second shot of the back of Rich Little's head in a darkly lit scene really that jarring to people?

After finally getting my digital download of "The Other Side of the Wind," I rewatched the scene, made some screen grabs and enhanced them. It's not Rich Little at all! The hair is quite different and the person who approaches Zarah's car is wearing glasses. I cannot tell if it is actually Peter Bogdanovich or a stand-in used by Welles, but it is not Rich Little. I can't tell whose voice it is.

[RayKelly]

After finally getting my digital download of "The Other Side of the Wind," I rewatched the scene, made some screen grabs and enhanced them. It's not Rich Little at all! The hair is quite different and the person who approaches Zarah's car is wearing glasses. I cannot tell if it is actually Peter Bogdanovich or a stand-in used by Welles, but it is not Rich Little. I can't tell whose voice it is.

I have not bothered to inquire as to whose back it really is. However, the line, "I'm so sorry Zarah, I'm afraid our leader is a little pissed," is delivered by Peter Bogdanovich doing his Jimmy Stewart impression, which he has said Orson liked.

[RayKelly]

"Finishing this film (The Other Side of the Wind) after such a long journey and to be honored by the National Board of Review just doesn’t get much better than this. Orson Welles continues to inspire and amaze us. He was ahead of his time then and he is still ahead of his time… It is so modern. It’s exciting and challenging.” -- Frank Marshall upon receiving National Board of Review's William K. Everson Award for Film History on January 8, 2019.

[Wellesnet]

San Diego Reader ― No. 1 on Top 10 list:

"Is there another director who left behind as many unfinished projects as Orson Welles? Filmed between 1970 and 1976, it took over 40 years for Welles’ vision to finally see the arclight (flatscreen?) of day. It was worth every second of the wait. John Huston stars as a director who, on the last day of his life, screens a rough cut of what turned out to be his crowning achievement. The film-within-a-film, a pungent lampoon of Antonioni’s Zabriskie Point, stars Welles’ offscreen leading lady and the film’s co-screenwriter, Oja Kodar. Watching her navigate through light, shadow, and a myriad of highly reflective surfaces is Welles’ way of turning this shanghaied lady’s screentime into a hall of mirrors continuance."

[Wellesnet]

The National Association of Film Critics today announced its award for Best Editing will go to Bob Murawski and Orson Welles for THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND.

[Wellesnet]

International Cinephile Society (110 critics, scholars, historians worldwide) has nominated THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND for its 16th annual awards in the Best Picture and Best Editing categories. Winners will be announced February 3.

[Wellesnet]

James Naremore's 6-page review of "The Other Side of the Wind" is featured in the latest issue of Cineaste Magazine, now available on newstands. The issue also features an in-depth interview with Frank Marshall and Peter Bogdanovich.

https://www.cineaste.com

[Wellesnet]

Yes, THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND (and Orson Welles) were "criminally overlooked" by The Academy. Still, a 40-year-old movie making three dozen(!) Best Films of 2018 lists is nothing to sneeze at.