Reza wrote:Women He's Undressed (Gillian Armstrong, 2015) 7/10
Orry-Kelly moves from a small town in Australia to New York in the late 1920s. A talented painter he finds work on Broadway designing sets and costumes while rooming with a cockney - Arthur Leach, an aspiring actor who broke into movies as Cary Grant. The two became lovers with Kelly creating Grant's dapper look. In Hollywood Kelly joined Warner Brothers and eventually became the head of the studio's costume department creating wardrobes on film for Bette Davis, Kay Francis, Barbara Stanwyck, Ingrid Bergman ("Casablanca") among almost 300 others. Armstrong's documentary is fascinating when it sticks to it's subject (with Jane Fonda, Angela Lansbury, Ann Roth, Leonard Maltin and others providing sharp commentary on the man and his designs) but keeps taking quirky turns with the introduction of an Australian actor impersonating Kelly who keeps getting maudlin over his personal life - Cary Grant left him for Randolph Scott followed by five marriages all of which ended in divorce. There is a wistful quality of remourse over the affair with Grant (who later told him not to mention their relationship in his memoirs) along with a feeling of satisfaction over the fact that Grant was a pallbearer at his funeral. After the War Kelly was fired from the studio due to alcohol addiction after which he freelanced at Paramount, RKO and MGM winning three Oscars during the 1950s for "An American in Paris" (1951), "Les Girls" (1957) and "Some Like It Hot" (1959). His amazing designs for Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis (dressed in drag) in the latter film - both actors especially requested Kelly to create their female costumes - and the two iconic nude dresses he created for Marilyn Monroe which exposed her breasts on camera all created a sensation. The documentary is a fitting tribute to the life of a difficult man whose genius will remain forever etched in classic films.
You are certainly correct that the film is best when it sticks to its primary subject - costumes & Hollywood but the Cary Grant gossip is disingenuous to say the least. I hated that this 'documentary' peddled the rumours about Grant as fact - easy I suppose once someone is dead. Also, Armstrong claimed in interviews promoting the film at the time of its Australian release that she had never heard of Orry-Kelly. I'm sorry, but at 60 something at the time of the making of the film I find that really hard to believe. Then again I don't know how film literate Armstrong is, only that her films rarely rise above the mediocre and she has directed some of the worst films ever made.
Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle (2017) Gustavo Salmeron 5/10
The Image Book (2018) Jean-Luc Godard 6/10
Euthanzier (2017) Teemu Nikki 4/10
Rafiki (2018) Wanuri Kahiu 4/10
Sorry Angel (2018) Christophe Honroe 4/10
Girl (2018) Lukas Dhont 7/10
BlacKkKlansman (2018) Spike Lee 8/10
Lean on Pete (2018) Andrew Haigh 6/10
Buddies (1985) Arthur J. Bressan Jr. 7/10
Suffering of Ninko (2016) Norihiro Niwatsukino 4/10
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)