Waiting for Orson Wells

(Me and Orson Welles (2008, USA) , directed by Richard Linklater, written by Holly Gent Palmo, Robert Kaplow, Vincent Palmo Jr, with Christian McKay and: Zac Efron, Claire Danes, Ben Chaplin, Zoe Kazan, Eddie Marsan, Kelly Reilly, James Tupper, Leo Bill)

If the actors of Wells’ Julius Caesar were virtually paralysed in his absence, this film, about the making of the play and a few other bits on the side, seemed equally directionless. Which is ironical, because the direction was very much present, and pretty effective at it: the acting and the staging of the play-within-the-film are marvelous. Some of the lines were very pleasing too, along the model of classic films’ mix of pick-ups and put-downs. I liked very much the scene were Orson coaxed Richard to return for the opening night (it contained one of the truest definitions of a good actor that I can think of) and Richard’s potential for and progress towards becoming like Wells. Despite the pouches of brilliance though, i couldn’t really figure out what the film was supposed to be about. Was it about Wells? He was magnificent enough but lacked the excess energy and the opacity that would have made the slavishness believable (seems even dictators are getting smaller these days). Was it a coming-of-age film? Richard’s dabbling around looked determined enough, but didn’t mount to much effect. Was the film about good and bad people in general, about theatre, about a love for words, a period film, about possibilities? All these ideas were conspicuously announced, but ended up not even being convincingly jumbled, much less explored. Perhaps after all it was a film about not coming-of-age yet, and about the pitfalls and sadness of becoming (or as in Wells’ case, being a God-made) adult. Enjoyable film, good writing, inspiring acting… and now I really feel like watching Almost Famous for the 1938th time.

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