Magician: The Astonishing Life And Work Of Orson Welles

In Brief: Director and veteran editor Chuck Workman may not break any new ground in this documentary examining the life and career of Orson Welles — but that's because there's very little material on the subject that hasn't been covered extensively. What distinguishes Workman's film is the adroitness with which he composes his collection of relevant talking heads — including Welles' contemporaries, biographers and current filmmakers influenced by the director's work —  and archival footage detailing Welles' career and personal life. The title is taken from Welles' noted interest in sleight-of-hand illusionism, a subject covered in the director's final feature F for Fake. And while Workman's documentary doesn't approach the inventiveness of that film, it could be considered in some regards its spiritual successor — and a worthy tribute to a complicated character, even in the bizarre annals of cinematic history.