*My capsule review of They'll Love Me When I'm Dead was originally published on Film Inquiry as part of my second report from Film Fest 919. Click here to read the original post and check out more great reviews from this awesome site!*
Did Orson Welles ever really say "They'll love me when I'm dead?" I'm no expert, so don't ask me. And don't ask Morgan Neville or any of the subjects interviewed in this documentary either. Early in They'll Love Me When I'm Dead, one of several critical figures in Welles' life emphasizes that the exact quote is something of a mystery, much like many other things from the iconic director's time on this planet. The unknown quantities of the filmmaker's life are on full display in this documentary, which tackles everything from the true purpose of his later work to the parallels between Welles and the notorious Charles Foster Kane. As a documentary, it's a confounding, ambitious, and vital work of historical study and introspection.
Above all other concerns, They'll Love Me When I'm Dead is about the making of The Other Side of the Wind, Welles' perpetually delayed final film. By this point, every cinephile in the world knows that Netflix is preparing to release the project in just under a month, long after putting up the money for producers to piece together the final bits of footage. Through a clever concoction of archival footage and new interviews, director Neville investigates the making of this bold project, examining both Welles' relationship with New Hollywood maverick Peter Bogdanovich and his ruminations on the business that embraced and exiled him.
Neville was also behind the camera for this summer's Won't You Be My Neighbor?, an exceedingly gentle salute to Mister Rogers and the show that made him famous. It made a lot of people cry, but I was slightly disappointed by its reluctance to investigate a legendary figure's beliefs and values with any real complexity or nuance. Of course, this led me to worry that Welles would be deified in They'll Love Me When I'm Dead, which isn't exactly the case. While the film sometimes resists overtly criticizing the director too much, this is a messy portrait of the man who stands as a titan in today's cinematic landscape. It is equal parts frantic, reverent, and inquisitive; in other words, it's much like the filmmaker's own life.
Part of the fun of this documentary is the uncertainty of it all, the inability to say in any verifiable terms what Welles intended or thought or even said. He has always been a figure of great mythological importance, and that's used in a unique way here. Neville poses a billion questions that one documentary couldn't even begin to answer, but it's endlessly entertaining to see the clash between traditional elements of non-fiction storytelling and this nearly experimental reflection of Welles' own madness on the set.
However, film fans will likely be most compelled by Neville's stretch for clever theories of Welles' body of work, partially enhanced by his newfound concept of The Other Side of the Wind. The documentary proposes that many of Welles' films (specifically his most famous movie and his last project) were autobiographical in form, shaded by his childhood, his own brilliance, and his uncontrollable ego. Welles' story thus becomes something of a tragedy, filled to the brim with lost potential and the collapse of ideas that could have been transcendent.
But it doesn't stop there. They'll Love Me When I'm Dead talks about a possible curse, draws even more explicit parallels between Welles and Kane, and further presses into the blurred line at the heart of The Other Side of the Wind. And then it annihilates that line.
For those worried that this would be just a glorified trailer for Netflix's big project, you can rest easy. Neville does something far more fascinating in its final moments - he theorizes that maybe Welles' final film was intended as a documentary of people talking about the making of a movie. So did we just inadvertently watch the director's original vision? Or is this just one last trick?
We'll never know. But it's fun to think about.
THE FINAL GRADE: B+ (7.9/10)
Images courtesy of Netflix
Did Orson Welles ever really say "They'll love me when I'm dead?" I'm no expert, so don't ask me. And don't ask Morgan Neville or any of the subjects interviewed in this documentary either. Early in They'll Love Me When I'm Dead, one of several critical figures in Welles' life emphasizes that the exact quote is something of a mystery, much like many other things from the iconic director's time on this planet. The unknown quantities of the filmmaker's life are on full display in this documentary, which tackles everything from the true purpose of his later work to the parallels between Welles and the notorious Charles Foster Kane. As a documentary, it's a confounding, ambitious, and vital work of historical study and introspection.
Above all other concerns, They'll Love Me When I'm Dead is about the making of The Other Side of the Wind, Welles' perpetually delayed final film. By this point, every cinephile in the world knows that Netflix is preparing to release the project in just under a month, long after putting up the money for producers to piece together the final bits of footage. Through a clever concoction of archival footage and new interviews, director Neville investigates the making of this bold project, examining both Welles' relationship with New Hollywood maverick Peter Bogdanovich and his ruminations on the business that embraced and exiled him.
Neville was also behind the camera for this summer's Won't You Be My Neighbor?, an exceedingly gentle salute to Mister Rogers and the show that made him famous. It made a lot of people cry, but I was slightly disappointed by its reluctance to investigate a legendary figure's beliefs and values with any real complexity or nuance. Of course, this led me to worry that Welles would be deified in They'll Love Me When I'm Dead, which isn't exactly the case. While the film sometimes resists overtly criticizing the director too much, this is a messy portrait of the man who stands as a titan in today's cinematic landscape. It is equal parts frantic, reverent, and inquisitive; in other words, it's much like the filmmaker's own life.
Part of the fun of this documentary is the uncertainty of it all, the inability to say in any verifiable terms what Welles intended or thought or even said. He has always been a figure of great mythological importance, and that's used in a unique way here. Neville poses a billion questions that one documentary couldn't even begin to answer, but it's endlessly entertaining to see the clash between traditional elements of non-fiction storytelling and this nearly experimental reflection of Welles' own madness on the set.
However, film fans will likely be most compelled by Neville's stretch for clever theories of Welles' body of work, partially enhanced by his newfound concept of The Other Side of the Wind. The documentary proposes that many of Welles' films (specifically his most famous movie and his last project) were autobiographical in form, shaded by his childhood, his own brilliance, and his uncontrollable ego. Welles' story thus becomes something of a tragedy, filled to the brim with lost potential and the collapse of ideas that could have been transcendent.
But it doesn't stop there. They'll Love Me When I'm Dead talks about a possible curse, draws even more explicit parallels between Welles and Kane, and further presses into the blurred line at the heart of The Other Side of the Wind. And then it annihilates that line.
For those worried that this would be just a glorified trailer for Netflix's big project, you can rest easy. Neville does something far more fascinating in its final moments - he theorizes that maybe Welles' final film was intended as a documentary of people talking about the making of a movie. So did we just inadvertently watch the director's original vision? Or is this just one last trick?
We'll never know. But it's fun to think about.
THE FINAL GRADE: B+ (7.9/10)
Images courtesy of Netflix
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