the audience applauded

Fresh and Exciting

A Masterpiece!

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

A great cast and superb performances, make this film a great treat for acting.A film on Orson Welles the great himself is bound to be something interesting. Now, this film treats Orson in a way that we dare to have known him. The film is based on Robert Kaplow's novel of the same name. And here, our Orson is a psychopath who is hell bent on deriving what he needs from anyone. He uses everyone and to us them , he goes to any extent. Wow, what an acting by Christian McKay as Orson Welles. McKay breathes life into a great character and makes it his own by a stellar performance. Zac Efron, the blue eyed boy plays Richard who is finds his real self, and learns that if he believes in something, he can do it. Now, the writing and screenplay are do well here. And most of all, the art direction is superb, it's clean with hardly any showiness, that is I mean, here the world seems real like the one in 1937. Look at the zooming out final shot from the steps, where we see that it's so very fine and good looking from above. Wish to be at such places in such an era where life was slow paced and more lovely than now. Richard Linklater has given us different kind of movie, from Dazed and Confused to now, and he simply continues to surprise us with this one too. Since I have seen it for first time, I was amused by the ending, coz it simply stops with nothing much happening. Richard has found the True Orson and it end there, no more taking it forward. Yeah, if this had to be the ending, I wish it was more cut down and less in time. As the title line says, "All is fair in Love and Theatre", I say, all is fair for Orson and for his theatre. He is devilishly passionate about his work. He is extremely shrewd and exquisitely specific about everything he does, here he does a play Julius Caesar. He demands respect and he never forgets to ask that either. A complete narcissist you see at times, who loves himself and his job, and yes even a secretary at times. Now, editing would have been more crispier and had the subject been more focused on the objectivity of Orson rather than on how Richard was being treated, this would have been a finer film. Having said that, I like how Richard Linklater and I give it a 4/5 rating. It's kind of a coming of new age feel good film that is set in 1930's,Though it's for you to decide, do see it please for Chrsitian McKay's performance alone.

Enjoyable period combination coming of age and backstage comedy/drama. Efron acquits himself well, he still has a way to go before he breaks away totally from the teenyboppers but he's trying and will get there if he continues to do interesting material like this. Claire Danes is miscast, the character she plays is supposed to be an ethereal dream girl and fine actress though she may be she is not that type of woman, and that hurts the film a bit but the rest of the cast is good. The period details are well presented and the story interesting. However McKay dominates this with an amazingly accurate portrayal of Welles, he owns this movie and really should have been a presence at awards time.

If you run down the list of achievements and dubious exercises in the 70 years that Orson Welles occupied this life, you will see a life that bolsters more interesting twists and turns then any ten people that you can probably name. He did everything: he was a film director, a theater director, a radio director, an actor, a writer and a magician. He founded The Mercury Theater and ran it like a dictator. He was a master of radio who produced a Halloween broadcast of "War of the Worlds" that nearly caused riots in the small community of Grover's Mills, New Jersey.At the age of 25, he was given unprecedented creative control by RKO to make his first film, Citizen Kane, a film that so angered newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst that he tried to stonewall its release. None-the-less, the film would be lauded as the greatest American film ever made. Even with that, his career as a film director was cut short. He butted heads with Hollywood studio moguls who curtailed his creativity and practically ran him out of the business. In his short film career he would create a roster of brilliant film work including not only Kane but The Magnificent Ambersons, The Third Man and Touch of Evil.Late in his life, he would become a walking joke. There were the fat jokes, the Paul Masson commercials, the Nostradamus documentary and that infamous hot dog eating contest. Yet, even with those embarrassments, you can say that Welles, while having suffered a stunted film career, never-the-less lived a life that was anything but boring.Richard Linklater's Me and Orson Welles, captures Welles at the beginning of his career, but not the beginning of his brilliance. What is captured here, in a magnificent performance by stage actor Christian McKay, is a man of overinflated self-confidence, of charm, and of merciless dictatorial style. He was, as we can see in this film, a monument to himself but not someone who was off-putting. You want to sit in the front row just to listen to him talk.The film takes place in 1938 at The famous Mercury Theater, where 23 year-old Welles and his overworked staff are preparing a production of Julius Caeser set in the reign of Mousselini. That means that Caeser will be performed but the actors will dress in the black Nazi regalia and jack boots. Some of the actors we know: Joseph Cotton (James Tupper), Norman Lloyd (Leo Bill), John Houseman (Eddie Marsan), George Coulourous (Ben Chapman) - who later played Mr. Thatcher in Citizen Kane. Yet, our focus into Welles' theater comes from Richard Samuals (Zach Effron), a struggling actor who makes his way into Welles' circle and eventually into a bit part in Caeser.The kid comes under Welles tutelage and his near-insane style of directing. One of the things that Linklater gets perfect in this film is the back-breaking work that goes on behind the scenes at in a theater company. There are the preparations, the rehearsals, the manic casting and script changes, the personal petty feuds, the problems with budget and of course the problems of working under and egomaniac like Welles. McKay occupies the role in such a way that his presence is felt even when he is off-screen. It isn't just the voice and the face and the mannerisms that McKay gets right, but the very essence of Orson Welles. This is a magnificent performance, so much so that when I saw the film at Ebertfest, his name in the credits drew thunderous applause.What happens in the film is the old backstage story of the kid who tries to make it into the inner circle of the theater company. Yet, it is surprisingly devoid of clichés. What Linklater wants to capture is the feel of the backstage process, of the tensions and in-fighting that go on. Mixed with that comes the story of Welles and his tense relationship with everyone. His ego is a Maypole that everyone is forced to dance around. When we get to the ending, and see the performance of Julius Caeser, we see the result of the company's efforts, it is a sight to behold, not just a good performance of a famous play, but the efforts of tireless people working under an insufferable, but undeniably great artist.

Set in the post depression of New York, budding actor Richard Linclaters (Zac Efron) gets a part in a theatre show run by Orson Welles. Soon Richard discovers the demands needed to stay in a theatre run by a truly power hungry man whilst understanding there are some people out there that will do anything to succeed.This explores the ups and downs of theatre lift and how a slight romance can interrupt that.It includes an interesting insight into the early life of Orson Wells, although not showing him in the nicest of lights. Basically whatever Orson wants Orson gets.The story line is a bit weak and the film itself is slow with little much happening. It takes a while to get into but it's an easy film to follow.Zac Efron gives his usual convincing performance although it is good to see him taking new directions other than his usual films.