Should you watch F for Fake?
Who it’s good for, who it isn’t, and what’s in it. No ratings, no scores.
F for Fake
Documentary · 1973
Documents the lives of infamous fakers Elmyr de Hory and Clifford Irving. De Hory, who later committed suicide to avoid more prison time, made his name by selling forged works of art by painters like Picasso and Matisse. Irving was infamous for writing a fake autobiography of Howard Hughes. Welles moves between documentary and fiction as he examines the fundamental elements of fraud and the people who commit fraud at the expense of others.
The sides of F for Fake
- Orson Welles as a magician narrator
- An art forger on Ibiza
- A fake Howard Hughes biography
F for Fake is good for you if…
- you like a narrator who calls himself a charlatan and still keeps you guessing.
- you enjoy a film that plays with what is real and what is staged.
- you like catching how Welles fooled you on a second viewing.
F for Fake is bad for you if…
- you find films from the 1970s dated.
- you want a documentary that tells you clearly what is true.
About: forgery · art · deception
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