This Is Orson Welles

For fans of the film giant, it is a duty, and for others, it is an interesting look at one directorial legend. The documentary is far from impartial, it gives significant space to Welles' admirers and collaborators, led by his daughter; after all, Orson Welles himself appears several times on the television screen. The film thus becomes part of the legend that Orson intensely built and, to be honest, dedicated more energy to than any film he worked on. It is the story of a genius filmmaker who defied the studio system, and it mercilessly took revenge on him and prevented Welles from further work in Hollywood. It includes the image of a versatile artist, a brilliant visionary, and an experimenter who had a key role in the development of cinema. Orson undoubtedly had talent and the courage for innovations, but alongside that, he also had a huge ego which was the main obstacle to his collaboration with studios. The feeling of his own exceptionalism was always more important to him than commercial success. His self-centeredness, unwillingness to compromise, and refusal to collaborate with anyone who wasn't worthy of a genius (which was the majority) led to many failures, where, for various reasons, the director did not complete most of his films and was unnecessarily often considered a chronic troublemaker. However, this part of his personality remained hidden from documentary viewers. Overall impression: 65%. (19.10.2015)