The Eyes of Orson Welles - EIFF review

Synopsis:
The art, sketches, set designs and storyboards Orson Welles produced throughout his career act as an entry point for director Mark Cousins to delve into the life and career of one of cinema’s most talented filmmakers. Welles trained as an artist before becoming an actor and director, and Cousins has been allowed unprecedented access to a treasure trove of images that provide a fascinating glimpse into Welles’ visual thinking. This film is a journey through his life punctuated by delightful insight.

Review:

Mark Cousins' admiration for Orson Welles shines through in this intimate portrait of a man whose public persona was larger than life. Cousins uses access to Welles' personal works of art to paint a picture of the private man behind the image and how his artistic style on the page and canvas influenced his work on the big screen.
Cousins' uses his trademark and distinctive narration to converse directly to Orson via a series of "letters" looking at different stages of his life, career and personality.
Like the original cut of The Magnificent Ambersons, the documentary goes on slightly too long but provides a new perspective to Welles and new insights into his work. Even if, unlike Citizen Kane, he ultimately cannot be defined by any one particular piece of art.

3 stars

The Eyes Of Orson Welles screens at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on Sunday 24th June, 8.35 and Monday 25th June, 6.00. To book tickets, click here.

The Monuments Men - review

In the 2013 film Trance, art auctioneer Simon says "No piece of art is worth a human life".

The Monuments Men spends its 118 minute running time arguing that it is, several of them in fact.

The plot sounds like Ocean's WWII with George Clooney assembling a team of art experts to go into the war zone and protect and retrieve some of the most important historical and cultural artefacts.

The team includes people like Matt Damon, John Goodman, Bill Murray, Jean Dujardin and Hugh Bonneville but one of the film's biggest problems is that as soon as they get together, they split off into pairs or solo missions and you spend so little time with each person it is difficult for them to make any real impression, which makes it difficult when some of the cast meet their maker.

It feels like a waste of a cast that clearly has genuine chemistry together (as evidenced by Damon, Bonneville and Murray on the Graham Norton show) but there is never the chance for them to display it here.

With the cast spread out over Europe, tonally the film is similarly all over the place. Is it meant to be a light-hearted WWII romp a la The Great Escape, hard-hitting war movie or art history lesson on this forgotten tale? The film never seems sure in itself and suffers as a result.

The Monuments Men is unlikely to be a film that anyone will give their life to try and save in order to protect it over other classics in cinema history.

2 stars