I’d never heard of this film, and it took me a while to figure out what to make of it. On the whole, I’d say the film is middling, but I wound up like Diego Luna’s role a lot, which made me happy. Also, does this movie technically count as RPFanfic?
After the war, Orson Welles finds himself working in Italy. Things are tricky in L.A. right now, so he escapes town and gets a part in an Italian movie that he considers well below his talent. But the expat life gets an unexpected turn when another actor is killed on the set of the film, and Welles is drawn into the intrigue of the murder mystery.
It’s a little pulpy, toying with ideas of old grudges from the war and multiple antagonistic factions who might’ve had a hand in the murder, all set against a backdrop of civil unrest. The notion of Orson Welles solving a “real-life” murder on the set of a film is an entertaining one, and Welles approaches his task with a keen sense of observation, plenty of celebrity entitlement, and a sharp intellect. The setup at times blurs the lines between cinema and reality, with plot twists occasionally dropping in the style of an Orson Welles-era movie.
Looking at the cast list, I had it in my head that Welles was being played by Jack Huston, who for various reasons has been typecast in my mind as “period-piece fuckboy.” It’s not him, though, as he would’ve been way too young for that in 2006. No, Welles is played by Danny Huston, another actor I’ve seen in a number of things, mostly in less-than-complimentary roles. He does a nice job here, allowing Welles’ unlikeable qualities to remain in play amid his good ones. I like the feeling he creates of a beaten-down genius who’s slumming it, who then stumbles into a wild mystery that he can’t resist poking his nose into. Meanwhile, Paz Vega plays the female lead, an actress named Lea who gets similarly drawn into the murder. The film also features Christopher Walken doing—what else?—his usual Christopher Walken thing.
Luna plays Tommaso Moreno. I’m still not entirely sure what Tommaso’s official job is—possibly just Welles’ driver, maybe his PA or something. To be honest, when he makes his first appearance at the police station after the murder and then follows Welles out, I had a, “Wait, are we supposed to know who you are?” reaction.
It takes a bit for the film to let the character settle in, but once he gets going, I really like Tommaso. He’s an ex-cop, which comes in handy for Welles’ amateur sleuthing. Tommaso is quick to tell Welles not to do something stupid and dangerous, but when he goes ahead and does it anyway, Tommaso is (begrudgingly) there to keep him from getting himself killed. He’s a keep-his-head-down type and can identify a lot of the different groups in the mix as possible suspects, also helpful.
And he’s kind of a curmudgeon, which is fun, because I haven’t seen Luna play much of that type before. He’s muted, a bit lugubrious, and mildly snarky—I love the line, “The mother of arseholes is always pregnant.” He’s seen enough to be cynical and has been through enough to be world-weary. But for all that he urges Welles to stay out of this, we see him slowly start to come alive over the course of the investigation. His eyes don’t miss a trick, and his practical on-the-ground knowhow adds nicely to Welles’ educated insights.
Luna is playing Italian here. I’m pretty sure this is the first time I’ve seen him play a (human) character who’s specifically not Mexican. I don’t know enough, though, to have any meaningful observations on this front. He has some Italian dialogue, mostly with Lea (which cracks me up, two Spanish-speaking actors speaking Italian to each other,) but I couldn’t say how fluent he sounds, and to my untrained ears, it doesn’t seem like he’s doing a different accent. Just a noteworthy detail about the character, even if I don’t see many big reflections of it in the performance.
Recommend?
In General – Maybe. It’s interesting and it warms up as it goes, plus the whole “Orson Welles Investigates!” angle is fun.
Diego Luna – Yes. This is nice work. Tommaso is a neat character, and Luna brings his layers out subtly.
Warnings
Violence, language, sexual content, drinking/smoking, and thematic elements.
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