This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
This was going to be a 5 star review, until the ending. The point was clearly made, but it seemed like the film wanted to draw it out longer and longer, until it just became sort of redundant. It’s not really to do with the blood/gore itself, that’s fine as a creative choice, but it felt like the film was given a big splashy (no pun intended) ending for the sake of it.
It’s also difficult to review this without…
Throw $120 million on a shit story, it’s still a shit story. Throw wooden acting, a confused world, and trying to be a million films at once on top, and it may be Coppola’s worst film.
Whilst a remarkable approach to documentary filmmaking, Orson Welles’ “F for Fake” feels like a self-indulgent slog for the most part - the sexualisation of his romantic partner Oja Kodar throughout is particularly annoying and distasteful. And please, the “trick” at the end is not surprising at all; Welles isn’t particularly good at tricking an audience who has managed to follow along thus far, through his mind-boggling editing of archival interviews that make it almost impossible to follow whatever point…
Watching the 1925 version beautifully restored demonstrates how Chaplin works much better in the silent medium. As great as the 1942 version is, Chaplin’s narration somewhat detracts from the simplicity of the film.
