The Other Side of the Wind (TOSOTW) is more than Orson Welles’ final film. It celebrates an almost 60-year journey of filmmaking to complete the story Orson first crafted in 1961. His troop of filmmakers including Peter Bogdonvich and Frank Marshall was there from the beginning of production in 1970.
TOSOTW contains a film within the film that features some of the most striking cinematography I have ever seen. Director of Photography Gary Graver created the surreal, abstract and beautiful imagery with Orson in 1970-1971. Gary passed away in 2006 but his spectacular photography and storytelling will live on forever.
Watching TOSOTW for the first time, I was blown away and transported to a cinematic nirvana every time it cut to the “Film within the Film.”
Shot in the Super 35mm format with rich colors and dramatic lighting, it contrasts in every way with the squarer aspect ratio of the 16mm and 8mm footage used in the rest of the film.
This 23-minute video is comprised of all the “Film within the Film” footage from The Other Side of the Wind.
It has been edited together in chronological order to create a stand-alone experience of the entire “Film within the Film”.
Until next time…
One Comment
Thanks for this post. Very interesting, as always!!!!
The footage is so fresh, it could have been done by a film student. Reminds me about Coppola’s last films, freed from constraints and experimental by nature.