They'll Love Me When I'm Dead

An American documentary; A story about the making of Orson Welles's film 'The Other Side of the Wind'. The film provides a good insight into an artist's mindset and a window into the creative process of a film auteur. It fascinates because it mirrors Welles's own life and how he struggled to make good on his swan song. The interviews bring to the fore the genius of Welles and what was described about his mind as "a hall of mirrors."

The "cute" usage of available feature and personal film scenes, often totally out of context, is inexcusable in a documentary. If the director wanted a spoken word by Welles in this thing, it was grabbed from whatever decade is available. In addition, much "general stock footage" is seen for "atmosphere." Sometimes almost randomly. Just awful. I watched this after "The Other Side of the Wind," which makes it really irritating. There are some amazing docs out there.

And Alan Cumming is just too precious.

This documentary details the up & downs Orson Welles went through getting financing for many of his projects particularly his last, The Other Side of the Wind. Welles, who became a wunderkind after his major breakthrough Citizen Kane, never got the same treatment or respect for the remainder of his life, always securing backing for his films in fits & starts (he'd occasionally had shooting projects languishing for years at a time as he'd take acting jobs or towards the end of his life becoming a pitch person for wine & board games solely to secure necessary completion funds) which ultimately would add to his stature as being a problematic visionary (a sad episode occurs when he tries to get money to finish his film during his own AFI awards ceremony). More of a story of what could've been, this depressing account leaves one fuming at the film community for abandoning this gargantuan talent & not giving him his due.

The title obviously makes the point that some artists only get recognized after they die. And it is true that many artists had issues. Welles on the other hand was highly regarded. Actually this documentary makes the point that he and his masterpiece Citizen Kane were loved - so much that he could never live up to it. Or rather none of the movies he did after that.

Now that are issues that some people would love to have. On the other hand, someone like Hitchcock made many good movies and he never fell into that trap. But back to this: Many of his peers talk about him and there is a big amount of the time dedicated to the last movie Welles never actually finished. He shot it for so many years, but never seemed satisfied. From what I have seen so far, it might have been ahead of its time back then - obviously the cut of The other side of the wind that is now available to watch via stream is not the one Welles would have released. Still it is the footage he shot, so more on that on the other page. This documentary is quite revealing when it comes to Welles character - with enough footage of him, but also a lot of people who were close to him, talking about their experience ... Essential in a way

Orson Welles's final movie, The Other Side of the Wind, started filming in 1970 but by the time of his death in 1985 had not been released. It was finally released by Netflix in 2018. This documentary details the making of the movie and the problems Welles had in completing and releasing it.

Good documentary. Details well the making of The Other Side of the Wind, and the difficulties and controversies surrounding it. Also shows, albeit too briefly, Welles's career to that point and, in more detail, why his star had fallen.

However, like the movie, it is a bit muddled. The narrative isn't very smooth and there is concentration on immaterial details at the expense of the bigger picture.