The Eyes of Orson Welles

A doc on Welles that focuses on his drawings? Sounds about as interesting as one on Warhol that centers on his films. And as a number of previous reviewers have observed the director/narrator's droning, second person Irish tones get old five minutes in.

A director described by his portraits, his direction discerned from sketches of memories and memories of sketches. Light is explored in painting and set design, all in an effort to paint Orson Welles in a new light, or figure what light he saw himself in as he positioned figures on a stage. I figure this film goes far enough in capturing the expanses allowed us from Welles' mind and how his lines frame future films. However, I'm a little lost in the repetition of the particular picture with sideburns.

I suppose I am led to see it differently in the different "acts" of this exploration. It feel youthful, then classy, then a marketing shape cut out of virgin clay, then fringe, then cool, then something else entirely. Self-obsessed? Not in a selfish way.

The bee will always make honey.

I've found this documentary with its slow paced narration and editing quite apaising and somewhat poetic. I really enjoyed it, it's rather unusual in these times of fast cuts and over-feeding of information to adopt this counterpoint. I must confess I can not say I've seen a lot of Orson Welles' movies but after seeing this documentary I definitively plan to watch more of them. I also was impressed by how good he was at drawing, in summary a great all-around artist.

It's listed as a documentary, on the life and works of orson welles, who lived from 1915 to 1985. Writer, director, producer, stage manager, casting director. Mark cousins and welles' daughter beatrice describe various items from the welles collection archive. Drawings, letters, papers. Lots of scenery of new york and chicago. Discussion of themes like beginnings and endings. Some politics. Cousins addresses many statements and questions to orson himself, as if he were in the same room. And sums of welles' work as a series of shapes and lines. Contradictions, as any poet has. There's a very complete page of information at wikipedia dot org as well. It's mostly good. Written, directed, narrated by mark cousins. He has won numerous film fest awards. It's quite interesting. I wish cousins had spent more time with beatrice on camera! She must have had tons of interesting stories about her father's life and work. And i don't remember any discussion of welle's project (uncompleted, during his lifetime) other side of the wind... which was also released in 2018!

I appreciate the effort put into this documentary. I learned a lot about Welles which I had not known. Actually, I wasn't aware that he made or performed in so many films. I believe only a select few are shown on TV these days. I certainly will be on the look-out for more of his films as mentioned in this documentary. Contemporary youth seem to prefer everything In color and flashy so they show no interest in old films especially if they are in black and white. Having said that, I did not give a high rating because I found the director spoke more or less in a monotonous voice most of the time. Of course, he has an Irish accent, but that in itself is not an issue.