The Immortal Story

Jason

Such a stripped-down and sacred thing. One of the great collaborations between a film director and a cinematographer (the brilliant Willy Kurant). A pretty streamlined and off-at-a-remove production. Meaning that there wasn't much to interfere in the pure mechanics of this extraordinary collab. The cutting is also sensational. This is a universal parable, rendered in gauze and light. And an experiment. A discovering.

Duncan Gray

What people tend to love/hate about Welles is that, wherever his character originated (even Shakespeare), the movie usually ends up being in some sense about Welles himself. Since he completed no fictional feature after this short story, it feels like a kind of coda whether it was intended that way or not, a hauntingly bizarre examination of the filmmaking process, in all its contradictory, perverse glory.

ASHES IN THE HOURGLASS

A companion piece of sort to F for Fake, as it similarly takes apart the notion of truth in storytelling. Significantly, both of these gems are his only work in color as if to insinuate that this format frees us from the world of illusions and dreams of black/white. It's also a profound meditation on how stories are retold/adapted and the how the control that storytelling affords is non-existent in life.

Dave

A unique effort from Welles. Initially, at least, I came away with feelings similar to those I felt after watching The Lady From Shanghai - this is either a very good film or a very a bad one. And like my assessment of Shanghai, I feel confident in saying that this is a very good film, one that asks for repeat viewings.

Neil Bahadur

Extrodinary. I will dream of this film when I go to sleep tonight. Also, the color photography by Willy Kurant (who also shot Masculin-Feminin for Godard and the latest Garrel) is nothing short of gorgeous. Shame that this is not as available as his other films, as it is every bit as great.

Slowart

storytelling from the chair's perspective, brilliant camera angles and very fast editing make this small literary movie a very poignant experience, a breath of fresh air after aurora and my weekend's entering the void

El Biffo

Jeanne Moreau is ravishing and Orson Welles sinister and decrepit in this strange tale. "It is very hard on people who want things so badly that they cannot live without them."

Francisco R.

There are beautiful moments of silence here, and for the first time I see a subdued direction by Welles.