Academy Award winner Chuck Workman’s documentary Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles opened today in Los Angeles and New York and the critics have weighed in.
The 94-minute documentary has received generally favorable reviews. The few complaints have been that a documentary running less than two hours is by nature a superficial look at Welles’ 50-year career in theater, radio, film and television.
Workman discussed the making of Magician in a recent interview with Wellesnet.
Here is a roundup of the initial reviews of Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles:
Newark Star-Ledger, Stephen Whitty: “It’s a deft assemblage of new and old footage and that’s no surprise; the documentary is directed by Chuck Workman, a brilliant editor whose clever history-of-the-movies montages have long enlivened Turner Classic Movies and Oscar broadcasts.”
Variety, Dennis Harvey: ” Chuck Workman’s latest bouquet to cinematic history, Magician, provides a solid overview of Orson Welles’ life and output. While little here will be news to cineastes, the mix of interviews and archival footage — particularly high-quality clips from the subject’s directorial features — should engage fans while providing a fine introduction for those whose knowledge doesn’t stretch beyond recognizing the words “Citizen Kane.”
Los Angeles Times, Robert Abele: “Entertaining though it often is, zipping from Welles’ boy-wonder days in stage and radio (Mercury Theatre, The War of the Worlds) to the notorious 1940s film studio battles (The Magnificent Ambersons) and finally his duo life as a paycheck-cashing screen ham and fiercely independent moviemaker (Chimes at Midnight), Workman’s movie is low on new or lasting insight.”
Hollywood Reporter, Todd McCarthey: “An in-depth study of Orson Welles’ singular life and career would run the length of a miniseries, but Chuck Workman engagingly hits a good many highlights in stone-skipping fashion in Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles. Additionally, by delving into the protean talent’s bag of unfinished projects, the veteran documentary and clips-reel whiz tries to counter the view that Welles had a fear of completion later in life; as the film shows, he was always working, however under-financed he may have been.”
Village Voice, Stephanie Zacharek: “Magician may be Welles 101, but it’s dotted liberally with TV and radio clips of the famously loquacious auteur talking, talking, and doing more talking — and how could anybody with ears and a brain resist that buttery voice, spinning out clause-laden sentences that take more twists and turns than the streets of Venice but always end, somehow, in a place that’s ravishingly articulate?”
Slant, CHuck Bowen: Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles, however, is basically a clip show that dutifully covers all of the big beats of the generally accepted narrative without forging any new ground, offering a passable but mostly uninspired 101 summation of the filmmaker and raconteur. Director Chuck Workman simply compiles Welles’s greatest moments, offering little in the way of an authorial point of view.”
New York Times, Jeannette Catsoulis: “Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles is a near-indigestible lump of clips and quips and snipped opinions. Assembled chronologically and delivered at warp speed (there’s enough astonishment here for double the 94-minute running time), this potted history of one of our rarest moviemaking talents offers nothing new for fans and seems likely to overwhelm the uninitiated.
Film Journal, Daniel Eagan: Chuck Workman’s Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles is an important if brief introduction to a truly larger-than-life character. Workman provides a comprehensive look at Welles, ranging from his first public performance to his last. Interviews compiled from a wide variety of sources include family, friends, colleagues, and such prominent enthusiasts as George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese.”
A.V. Club, Keith Uhlich: “Most of the footage the director uses can be found elsewhere (like the treasure trove of YouTube), so to a Welles aficionado the doc may seem like well-trod ground. But there’s real power in the way Workman (also the sole credited editor) cuts all the material fleetly and acutely together.”
Screen Daily, Lisa Nesselson: “Magician is a peppy crash course in Welles’ engaging life and a reminder of how, as Peter Brook says, ‘One thing one can be sure of is that there wasn’t before him an Orson and there’ll never be a second.'”
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