Tuesday Movie

Feb. 3: F For Fake (1974)
Orson Welles' brilliant, multi-layered, free-form cinematic essay on fakery focuses on the notorious art forger Elmyr de Hory and his biographer, Clifford Irving, who also wrote the celebrated fraudulent Howard Hughes autobiography, then touches on the reclusive Hughes and Welles' own career (which started with a faked resume and a phony Martian invasion). More than simply about fakery, Welles uses this theme as a means to discuss authorship, authenticity and the nature of expertise. “If a faker can fool an expert” Welles' magician narrator asks, “who is the expert, and who is the faker?” On the way, Welles plays a few tricks of his own on the audience.