Clifford Irving, the man who faked a Howard Hughes Biography, plays himself in this Orsen Welles phony documentary, about Howard Hughes. This fake documentary has a better reputation than Irving would get years later when he is involved in a movie about his fake bio of Hughes.
F For Fake from 1973 is a remarkably enterprising documentary relating to the nature of art, charlatanry, illusionism and fakery. It documents US scribe Clifford Irving's fake biography of Howard Hughes, little East European art forger Elmyr De Hory's take on Matisse, Vlaminck, Van Dongen, Picasso etc and Welles' own ruse relating to The War of the Worlds in the '30s.
This is one of the rarest movies I have ever quit watching in the middle. What a terrible storytelling!
A powerful, fast paced mockumentary (symphony!) about fakery, trickery and the psychology and philosophy behind it.
In the words of Jean Cocteau, "Crushing Automatism" is what I'd say about this film and the iconic hand gesture displaying size or margin.This is one of those absolute movies, no one could make, and has made since, only a Orson Welles could have pulled this intricate cutting and pacing, that enveloped modern day editing techniques, and with such a cutting edge story, nothing goes wrong, except you are just fascinated by the narrative told by the man who played himself.
What is art? What appeals to our senses and informs our worldview?
An art forger, a biographer who faked having wrote from a legitimate source(Howard Hughes himself), and some 17 minutes about a Oja Koder's deathbed grandfather wanting Picasso's approval over 22 paintings of his beautiful daughter--Orson Welles sure knew how to weave quite a compelling film. F for Fake was given birth thanks to a fraud, Clifford Irving, who also put together a biograph on the skilled art forger, Elmry de Hory, known for creating such close resemblances to those who inspired him that supposed art experts were even fooled.
In a perfect metaphor for what transpires today in the realm of 'fake news', I caught this Orson Welles picture the other day, intrigued by the title but having no idea what it was about. Welles himself introduces the story, positioned as magician, charlatan and a fake himself, and as the picture proceeds, one begins to wonder how much of it is real and how much might have been fabricated given the nature of the set up.
I found this semi-factual film listed in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, it had average ratings by the critics, but I was always going to watch it, especially it starring and being directed by Orson Welles (Citizen Kane, The Lady from Shanghai, Touch of Evil). Basically actor and director Orson Welles hosts and narrates this free-form documentary which focuses on fraud, illusion, forgery, trickery and fakery.
