FRIDAY FRAMES: F for Fake
One of the best Orson Welles’ films on the duplicity of people and cinema itself.
For the inaugural post in FRIDAY FRAMES, I’ve chosen one of my favorite films, F for Fake, Orson Welles’ 1975 masterpiece. Welles, always the cinematic innovator, essentially starts a new genre of filmmaking: a film essay of sorts. Even so, just like Welles himself, it’s difficult to pinpoint and completely define F for Fake.* Welles challenges our opinion on what is real and what is fake.
Who are we as human beings? Do we reveal ourselves to others or do we remain hidden? And what about art itself? If the forgery looks the same as the original, and if we can’t tell a difference, how does our view of art change? What indeed is the metaphysical status of a painting?
Welles is a sensitive thinker. He’s a Philosopher-Magician par excellence and his films attest to this. He may have joked a lot, he may have even wore a metaphysical mask, but underneath it all, Welles showed his face in every film he made.
Hope you enjoy this excursion into fakery, trickery, lies, and truth!
*F for Fake is available on the Criterion Channel and Internet Archive.
I have this on DVD. Great watch! One cannot enjoy cinema and not love Orson Welles!