The Other Side of the Wind

A famed, and infamous, movie director, JJ Hannaford, dies in a car accident. He was about to release his latest movie and a documentary camera crew had been following him around in the days preceding his death. We see the events leading up to his death, the careers Hannaford destroyed, the enemies he made and his last film, The Other Side of the Wind.

Written and directed by the great Orson Welles, this movie has taken nearly 50 years to be released. Welles started shooting it in 1970 and by his death in 1985 it had not been released. Production issues and politics prevented this. Now, in 2018, Netflix has released it. Being a huge fan of Orson Welles, the thought of seeing his long-dormant final film released was an exciting one.

However, the final product is quite disappointing. It looks and feels unfinished, a mashup of random scenes. While watching I thought that this was due to the film being in an unedited state when Welles died and it was edited to the final version after his death. Turns out the final version had already been edited by Welles, so we can't blame Netflix's production team.

The film-within-a-film element was initially intriguing but is ultimately confusing. What is part of Hannaford's film and what is Welles's film? Are the pretentious, trippy, hippy sequences and the gratuitous nudity and sex scenes Welles trying to appeal to early-70s arty audiences or his take on the pretentiousness of modern movies?

I would like to think that one of the themes of the movie is the pretentiousness of Hollywood, so will give Welles the benefit of the doubt on the content. However, it does become a jarring, disconcerting experience when you have seemingly-gratuitous scenes like those thrown randomly into the movie.

This said, it is not all bad. Welles's take on Hollywood, its movies and the pretentiousness of the times is well directed (if, indeed, that was his aim. It's so difficult to tell). The mystery surrounding John Dale adds intrigue. The story of JJ Hannaford is interesting and John Huston is perfect in the role. He pretty much just had to play himself!

Even here, however, Welles overeggs the pudding. I would have been more engaged in the Hannaford story if there weren't so many scenes that added nothing to plot or character development. So many scenes that just take up space and so much long, pointless dialogue. There's no momentum to the movie at all and the ending is a damp squib.

Some films are hard to judge, especially something like this, that may be very close to what Welles intended, but never finished and never really seemed to be really satisfied with (see also the documentary about Welles from 2018, which is really good). Now there are things in here that may seem redundant to some or annoying. Or even pretentious to some extend. If that rings true to you or not, it doesn't mean you are right or wrong, one way or the other. It just means you have feeling and maybe knowledge and that's why you lean to a particular way or side.

Having written all that, I am surprised by the amount of nudity that made it into the film. I'm also surprised about the film depicting scenes being shot "in real time" with off commentaries by the director, with different cameras, cuts and all that. Now obviously we are taking creative liberties here and it's supposed to be heightened. It's to prove a point or even points. So in a way there is more to the film than meets the eye. You have to approach this movie with a certain mindset.

If you do that, you may be able to see more than some others. But if you don't you'll probably be bored. Whatever your stance on this is and it will be dividing, you cannot call this an easy movie to watch. Some probably will watch it multiple times and cherish it's commentary and behind the scenes insights as much as its psychology. Others will just sneer at the mention of the title. In a way I'd say that would make Welles happy after all ...

It took 40 years to make. Orson Welles never lived to see it completed. It's sad, but in retrospect, I see why. The Other Side of the Wind is brilliant in it's own little way, but it's far too esoteric. This film was for an audience, but we certainly aren't it. This is Orson Welles, and his film cohorts, fed up with the Hollywood system, and throwing up their middle fingers at them. At the same time, Welles was searching to make a masterpiece far ahead of it's time. What we get is the story of the premiere of a legendary filmmaker's last film. The film-within-the-film, also titled The Other Side of the Wind, is a colorful and erotic psychedelic fever dream about a Native American woman. I enjoyed this portion much more. You can see the imagination and enthusiasm for making something new and far-out from these scenes. The scenes that wrap around the film-within-a-film are in the style of a documentary, as we see industry folks and journalists quipping and arguing with each other. John Huston stars as Jake Hannaford, the jaded has been hot shot director who is obviously supposed to represent Welles himself. Huston is the brightest part of these scenes. On the whole, they are less imaginative, and feel so insular. It's unbalanced, and that's what really took me out of it. Historically, this is really fascinating stuff. To better understand it, I must consult the making-of companion doc on Netflix.

The Other Side of the Wind is not a perfect film, but perhaps the perfect film to punctuate Orson Welles' incredible and monolithic career, and certainly the most appropriate film to leave unfinished due to difficulty in production. Or perhaps it is the genius of Welles to have left the film unfinished on purpose?

The film focuses on "the man, the myth, the legend" type J.J. Hannaford, who is making his comeback film after a long hiatus of being out of touch with the modern movie realm. He celebrates his birthday by having a documentary team, friends, associates, and others join him for a showing of his new film "The Other Side of the Wind" starring his striking new lead actor Johnny Dale and lead actress (who is nameless according to the bill). What ensues is a chaotic, fast-paced bombardment of quick edits, snappy dialog, a movin' sound track, and fantastic camera-work sandwiched between the hypnotic, near-legato, orchestral moments of Hannaford's film "The Other Side of the Wind".

It took me about 25 min to get used to the faced-paced, almost bravado tone of the editing because I wanted more time to saturate the emotions and facial expressions of the characters. This is why I think the sections that show Hannaford's film stick out even more though; finally having time to "breath" (if you will) versus the zaniness of being in the business (reality). It even feels at times that Hannaford himself is drowning and just wants to breath. Even still, does Welles conduct an amazing performance from the grizzled-veteran John Huston, who nails the semi-pretentious over-indulgent Hannaford to a tee.

The highlights of Welles' last picture surely come from the technical aspects of the production, the anticipation born from it's long-troubled existence of coming to fruition, and the lead performance from Huston. I must say there are a handful of poignant, enigmatic scenes that truly hypnotize such as "The Other Side of the Wind"s rather incredible car scene, which for me was the true top moment of this feature. The camerawork changing from black and white to deep color is used to great effect as well.

I suppose we will never know if what we have today is truly Welles' vision fully intact, or just a shadow of what is was supposed to be. The Other Side of the Wind is definitely for any fans of Orson Welles and for those who enjoy seeing filmmaking done years ahead of its time. I feel like I must say that this film isn't getting praise from me simply because Welles' name is slapped on it, but good because there are a bunch of things to appreciate.

Here it is, if anybody wants to see it.

Were you compelled by the character study of Citizen Kane? Were you thrilled by Touch of Evil? Then get ready for something unlike any of those or unlike anything. This is the mockumentary before Reiner or Guest, the improvisational dramedy before Apatow.

The entire point of this movie is that there's no point to this movie. Here is Orson Welles's most talked about movie about talking about a movie. His film about a film within a film. Orson Welles deliberately subverts Orson Welles to make an art film contained within an art film making fun of art films. John Huston plays John Huston playing Orson Welles as Orson Welles. Peter Bogdanovich plays himself as his own ripoff. There's a party celebrating a celebrated filmmaker making a film making fun of filmmakers. Nothing happens. So much happens. We learn everything about a legendary director about whom we learn nothing.

This film is a glimpse into the psyche of a filmmaker who wants to make films but has no idea how to keep making films. He wants to be commercially successful without compromising his integrity. He wants to make personal films for an impersonal audience. He wants to make something sexy despite being prudish. This movie isn't really for anyone; this movie is really for everyone.

It wasn't until the end of his life that Orson Welles realized the most important story he needed to tell was his own. It's a story whose only concern is that it was told, whether or not you like it. So watch it. Or don't. This movie doesn't care either way.

And if this review left you feeling confused, then I gave you an accurate impression of the film.