The Other Side of the Wind (2018) Review

 

The Other Side of the Wind (2018)

The Other Side of the Wind follows maverick director Jake Hannaford, who after years of exile in Europe, returns to Hollywood to finish his comeback movie, `The Other Side of the Wind'.

The final film by Orson Welles, which took him over 6 years to make, and sat unfinished for over 40 years is one of the most intriguing meta commentaries about the film industry, possibly ever. It’s almost biographical look at Welles’ last years is sort of haunting, as it captures a director, left similarly in the same spot in life as himself, even dying before he ever sees his film to be finished. It’s structured as a film within a film, within a documentary at a party for a washed up film director, screening an incomplete rough cut of his latest movie, a pretentious art film. I guess the joke here is that the movie he screens is awful though, which in a sense, speaks true for Welles’ own film, which comes off as pretentious in it’s own right, a soulless art piece meant to speak into picture his frustrations about his own career trajectory. 

I’ll be painfully honest, this movie is a struggle and by the movie’s end, I was mostly relieved for it be over. It’s chaotic, infuriating, and overwhelming in all the worst ways. Set majorly at Hannaford’s birthday party, surrounded by peers, reporters, cameramen, and actors/actresses of Hannaford’s films, it’s a sensory overload that for the majority of the picture, serves no purpose other than to show just that, how overwhelming all of it can be. The dialogue, while written well, is hollow and as a viewer, it’s like being on the third end of an inside joke you don’t get. It’s real saving grace is a few subtle performances and the quality at which it’s shot. The shifting aspect ratios and the changes from black and white to deep color are both used to great effect, making this is a visually stunning piece if nothing else. 

So, while I understand the filmmakers point of view and inspirations behind making such a grandiose film, I must say, it’s simply not good, in the way he meant for it to be anyways. Film lovers will clammer about this movie as if it’s Welles’ forgotten masterpiece but in reality, I see it akin to someone going on about how good a bottle of wine is once they find out how much it cost, instead of just liking or disliking it without the context. 

‘Wind’ boasts a cast that’s entirely too big, but in narrowing it down, there are some commendable performances from Oja Kodar, Susan Strasberg, Norman Foster, Peter Bogdanovich, and John Huston, who is genuinely incapable of being bad, even here. Huston’s Hannaford is clearly based on Welles himself, with a little bit of Earnest Hemingway sprinkled in for good measure, and it’s honestly a performance to behold, he is simply terrific and stands out in just how well he nails Welles’ overindulgent persona. 

The Other Side of the Wind, directed by Orson Welles, is really Wells' bitterness with the way he felt Hollywood had betrayed him and was a deep commentary on movies and the industry at the time as a whole. And while, if released during his time, very well could l have been a bold masterpiece for the ages, it now just comes across as incredibly dated and inarguably ostentatious. 

4.7/10