Rosabella - Anyone seen it?

[Kubed]

Is it any good? Does it have rare footages of Orson or D.Q.?

I did a search on this site and didn't find much.

[Christopher]

I just saw "Rosabella" at the Film Forum yesterday afternoon. It is an exploration of Welles's working life during his years in Italy and shows the villa where he lived with his third wife, Paola Mori, and Beatrice when she was a child. The most interesting parts of the documentary for me were the interviews with the various Italian cameramen and film editors who worked with Welles, all of whom said that working with Welles meant putting in twenty hours a day and having no personal life or contact with one's family. Also interviewed was Prince Alessandro Tasco (not sure I spelled that right) who was probably his closest friend and gave a balanced picture of Welles's virtues along with his flaws and foibles.

I felt "Rosabella" was worth seeing for these clips alone as well as some stunning shots of Paola Mori early on in their marriage when she was a knockout. However, the documentary is all over the place, uneven and raises a number of quesitons it doesn't answer. The documentary filmmakers also seem to be working with a negative mindset about Welles rather than trying to present the material objectively.

[Jaime N. Christley]

There were a few factual errors on the part of the interviewees, can't remember them offhand but the doc is pretty so-so. Pretty much your garden-variety talking-head piece, a few interesting behind-the-scenes stories. Too bad that a bunch of anecdotes, however amusing, doesn't add up to a coherent or comprehensive picture of Welles' time spent in Italy. It's just...a bunch of faded and for the most part uninteresting memories.

Also it looks like shit.

[Jaime N. Christley]

It has a few DQ shots, very few in fact, nothing that you can't see elsewhere. Most of it was either ARKADIN or THE TRIAL or OTHELLO.

[blunted by community]

now for the other view:
i liked rosabella a lot. there is a lot to appreciate. there are a lot of anecdotes, and basically a lot from people that knew welles, and worked with welles.

garden variety, so-so are not words this camp would use. unbalanced? i wasn't looking for a balance. i wanted a lot of welles, and rosabella delivered.

it's just one of those welles products you have to look at yourself and decide it's worth to you. i liked it a lot and have watched it several times.