Jake Hanaford is a top Hollywood filmmaker who died in a car accident. Maybe Jake needed to revive an old legacy by producing a big comedy film but luck did not work out. At the time of Hanaford's concert, this film (The Other Side of the Wind) was left incomplete, yet the film achieved unprecedented success.
Even if it may not exactly be the movie its creator would have made, the artifact is still a thorny, inventive, brain-melting tour de force that confirms Welles's skill at finding beauty and meaning within chaos.
Cinephiles will dive deep into The Other Side of the Wind, no doubt about that. What they find, and if it's of any worth, is up for debate. Frankly, I didn't see much of anything here.
It's a mess, and I think perhaps Welles knew it would be... I can envision this as a future cult classic, but you may need the stamina of Huston's liver to get through it.
What to call this Hollywood takedown from Orson Welles, besides the best 1970's movie to be released in the 21st century? It's also chaotic and jumbled and strictly for those who care about the history of film and its indispensable master builder.
'So, how was it?' my wife asked when I called her after the screening ended. 'There's a lot to unpack,' was the only reply I could think of at that moment.
