FAYE Documentary Review

[Music] that's Nick and that's Joseph and today we're here to talk about F the eighth documentry directed by lant buero which premiered at the 2024 can film festival it is being released courtesy of HBO on July 12th 2024 have I seen this director's other documentaries no I don't believe so but I'm familiar with five came back and I also reviewed his documentary on Natalie Wood in 2019 what is Fay about Fay dunway reflects on her life and candidly discusses the triumphs and challenges of her illustrious career what's your pull quote this highly sanitized Rosy tinted homage to the career of Fay dway doesn't come close to expressing her iconicity or cultural magnitude as an introduction to dunway it's an Abridged expose primed for the the taste of any stranger on the street mine dunway star power is immeasurable but this documentary fails to showcase the Grandeur that is Fay yeah I think like you had said to me earlier if someone didn't know who Fay dunway is I feel like they would leave this documentary not really understanding that she is Hollywood royalty mhm so that's disappointing and I feel kind kind of how I felt with the Janet Jackson documentary on lifetime which is that she doesn't really get into the nitty-gritty of things which is fine I think CU cuz I'm a huge Fay Dunaway fan same yeah and it's not just for Mommy dear no and I don't need to hear about all her troubles and the you know getting fired and having some little homosexual boy file charges against her on like all the the negative things I don't need to hear about I I really wanted this to be a celebration of her magnificent career mhm and it feels very much in the middle yep like it's pulling punches it's definitely not Grand enough for her no and I think if you really are a fan there's only one real Revelation which is that she says she has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder which she uses as an explanation for a lot of the challenges she's had over the years she does downplay a lot of the things we have witnessed via video recording and audio recording but whatever um which is ironic because the film opens and in the trailer they say that she's uh like a difficult woman mhm and the opening of the documentary is her sitting down ready to be shot and she's rushing everyone and being personnic but that's sort of all we get yeah that I I think that is meant to deflect from other major things which again I didn't need this to be this like candid expose on all of her problems I found the most the best moments of the documentary are so her son who she had with Terry O'Neal the photographer he seems to love his mother very much as she does him and he's with her a lot of it and separately talking about her and to her and there are several moments when he's showing her photographs that she may or may not have seen and she talks about them and I thought that was the most fascinating her talking about her childhood her process and acting some of her iconic roles all of that was the best part mhm so I could have just done with her telling stories from all of these amazing roles she's played and all in all these amazing movies yeah I agree that would have been fine because then I was thinking if I had to make a fade dunway documentary I'd probably start by getting different people in a room except for her so like older people older than myself people younger and asking them all what do you know about Fay dunway and I feel like I would get like a few piles which would be her portraying Joan Crawford and Mommy Dearest I think younger people might recognize her from that but also some clips of her have gained traction on social media lately of her on that she was a judge on the reality show the starl where she's being very um she's being very Fay being very Fay um and then of course probably people older than myself would uh know her for all of her iconic acting work so I so it's interesting that we really don't it's not a very balanced look no and I I I wish that especially because this was directed by a flagrant homosexual who was there I was there at the premier can which he was there along with Fay dway which was kind of a treat to be in the same room as her but she's someone she's somebody that takes herself very seriously as uh her mommy dearest uh co-star ran Rutan odler has spoken about before is she has no sense of humor uh about herself or her work and well she even says that about herself she does and but I think it's a Pity that she hasn't been able to embrace what Mommy Dearest has become and meant to really a specific community and and if we're talking through the prism of RuPaul and RuPaul's Drag Race you have paris's burning and you have Fay onway as Joan Crawford which have informed a lot more queer culture than we'd like to admit probably which I can appreciate that I don't know that she's prepared to talk about things like that and I don't need her to be sure I I agree but it's it's some for somebody making a documentary about her especially a queer person oh sure yeah but and and Mommy dear is such a huge part of her Legacy but I think I don't think the documentary really does a good job of explaining just how iconic it is that she has these three films sort of in short succession that are like nearly perfect I I would Bonnie and Clyde Chinatown and network I I don't really I can't personally find fault with any of those films but yeah her coming up in the new American Cinema movement which Bonnie and Clyde was the film that's considered uh sparking that like that that was the hated of American Cinema and she's a prominent fixture yeah just to start um so usually in documentaries I like in documentaries like this featuring a celebrity I like to make a list of all the other celebrities who are talking about them but in this one we only have two I mean there are some filmmakers but I'm talking about like other actors we only have Sharon Stone and Mickey Ro so of course Mickey roor started with Fay in a movie called Barfly one of the few films post Mommy de that is brought up at all and I think is very good excellent yeah yes and he talks very uh nicely about her um and says that he was concerned that he was intimidated by her because he considered her a legend and that people were assuming that they would butt heads because he also had a reputation but then he says that they actually got along smashingly and she speaks fondly of him then we have Sharon Stone and Sharon Stone tells the story that she was present right before Basic Instinct Instinct came out at a photo shoot where Fay was being photographed and asked Fay if she could watch and of course F said sure just make sure to stay out of my eyeline which tracks which tracks but Sharon talks about how they became very good friends and how valuable their friendship is and you know Sharon Stone's a character oh she's a again I like difficult women she is a difficult woman so often speaks as if like she can relate to Fay uh which I find funny but she's at one point she's saying what a how much she values their friendship and then they immediately cut to Fay basically saying like I was happy to help her out like face like you have to give back like she she's talking about charity like I was a mentor for this uh younger blonde woman uh my my favorite part was Sharon Stone in this who is also somebody I don't know how I think she can't take her she takes herself a little too seriously um she's talking in defense of Fay in the follow out of Mommy Dearest is is blaming Frank Perry the director for you know making making the star the talent as she calls it look silly so it's like you're really out here saying blame it on the edit for Mommy Dearest so just so does Sharon Stone blame the director for Border run well I think it's amusing that the these two are friends however I I I find it hard to believe that none none of other of none other fa surviving co-stars wanted to participate like I feel like Johnny Depp they could have got him I was surprised that I mean she's Hollywood royalty and we don't really have I know there are other people in the documentary who like behind the scenes people James Gray director there were a couple of people I didn't even like I don't know who these people were like oh I mean there's some journalists uh Anette inor I a couple books by her I think it's interesting there's uh some homosexuals in here that are being a little uh hyperbolic that the first talking about how if there's one word to describe Fay it's unism and it's like okay I wrote that uh that okay girl and then but then of course someone else says uh complicated a woman yes which is much more fitting and that's a net indorf yeah so I think something that someone said and I don't recall who it was but they basically describe the reason why Fay dunway is such a great talent and it's because as the audience we remember when we think about Fay dun away we think about the character she's played and I thought that was such a great way to put it because that's probably how I feel about her like when I think about her or if you tell me like oh there's this movie with Fay dunway like immediately yes immediately yes cuz I know I'm going to get a hell of a performance and she does make these characters so memorable even in questionable films like Scorchers where she's playing a prostitute in the bayou MH or Supergirl I don't even know what her character was was she the villain yes with Brena varo even in films like those she is The Shining Star Beverly Hills Madam the Highlight Beverly Hills but that was a made for TV movie yeah she's such a a a joy to watch MH um she talks about Roman palansky mhm in very delicate terms she does say that she to call him Roman the terror and then it isn't even her it's someone else recounting a story oh an assistant director I think we're counting a story on on the set of um the film she did with palansky Chinatown Chinatown that um they got into a fight basically uhhuh over a over a strand of hair that was out of place in errand hair yep and hair stylist couldn't get it down Fate couldn't get it down so Roman palansky walks over and pulls the hair out of her head and the person recounting the story says that it was like Armageddon mm but then Fay basically says like we had a little misunderstanding well she there's a complicated situation a complicated situation but um then that person who tells the story says the original shot she was not it it's like a scene in a restaurant where she's wearing a hat with a veil but originally she was not wearing that hat and Veil but after they got into this uh situation they had to shoot it with the hat and Jack Nicholson uh gave her the nickname dread dreaded dway cuz she was so difficult but not to him so well we don't hear him him speak but she says that they got along smashingly um and apparently it was on this set where she discovered Blistex as a a moisturizer for her lips she could not part with at all which is such an odd story because someone else tells a story that she uh early on in her career started requiring ballistics in between takes which would slow down production and then we see her in 20 I'm assuming this shot in like 2022 we see her um applying it incessantly mhm which is such an odd little anote she seems to uh stick to her routines so her son we find out is adopted I don't think I knew fedway had a child yes you did because there's a very we played in our household a lot it's on YouTube a a a voicemail recording of her yeah and she talks she mentions about her son that there there are references to that because go because uh my memory she doesn't like to speak about it in public and I think some interview brought it up and she's you're right yes yes you're right so the Mommy dear section it gets like five minutes I and I think the saddest part of it was the actor who played Little Christina Mara hobble because she talks about what a Splendid experience it was and how loving F and protective Fay was of her and even faay says you know the scene with the wire hangers where she's beating her daughter she was very concerned about making sure that the little girl was comfortable and of course did not actually get hit with a hanger but the actor giving the interview in the documentary started crying because she said she felt bad that this experience making this movie that she holds so dearly it's hard for her to know that Fay dunway didn't enjoy the experience yeah but then we have Ratt Al Alda saying that she was afraid of Fay that Fay was intimidating and mean and then we hear Fay say oh I heard Rana talking [ __ ] about me she's like well I don't think I was mean at least I don't remember I never meant to be I never meant to be if I was Rutan has been out here for a while talking about Fay in that movie so I think I think it's amusing that the director chose to H it's like he he had to include something about but but not really uh also if Alyssa Edwards is watching a clip of her on RuPaul's Drag Race per being fade dunway as Joan Crawford in the snatch game they show a clip of that they show a clip of I think two other drag queens and Peach's Christ right they did their own rendition of Mommy dear then we see a dra like a drag queen I don't recognize performing as that character so they give it a little love but and then we get old clips of Fay speaking about the film a little more kindly and saying that she thinks it's great that it has this cold following but that was like back in the like late 80s but currently she just says that it was a mistake that she regrets it but then other people talk about which I would agree with I think that her maybe the movie was made in a way that lends itself to camp but her performance is remarkable mhm I mean she's displaced she's eclipsed Joan Crawford in the in the uh the our cultural memory her performance is so strong that what any because really if if it were just any old actor playing that role it would feel like a bad TV movie but Fay dunway gives that role so much power that it just transcends what it was intended to be right which is what camp you know like to put it harshly like failed art right right but there's something but fed Anway is also somebody that would never have allowed herself to be in a John Waters production for instance kind of celebrating that you know that part of her that she wants to uh push away and hide after like you already mentioned after mommy Deus the only other film we really talk about is Barfly and then we get a few moments specifically of Fay was doing a theater production of uh a story of Maria callus Yes Master Class master class and that one of her biggest failures I guess they they don't really explain how this impacted her Beyond she was sad that it didn't work out is that she tried to get a movie made directing it directing it and starring in it based on that play and she was able to start production for like they like two or 3 months worth of film but they ran out of money and I feel like that was an odd story to tell cuz it's like well how they run out of like they don't really explain how and how they can never get anymore but I like fade dunway couldn't get funding I for a movie that cuz they do show us some clips and it doesn't look like it was the biggest budget no and I remember people speaking out about like nobody's going to come up like nobody's going to try to cough up the money that she would need to finish this film and then that it was after that that she didn't appear in anything until the bye-bye man cuz you would think that even I mean this would be Shady but like if I were a millionaire producer executive I would think yeah let's get this movie made because it's going to be a train wreck and it'll probably be a hit like you know maybe if it was a decade later Netflix would have stepped in to do something like that but I remember what I thought was shady is maybe in 2013 or 14 it was announced that Mike Nichols and Merill stre were going to do a movie about Maria Callas and then he died so that never happened but it's like how no but you don't want to help fed downway okay her son does say that his mom was an alcoholic and then she also says she had issues with alcohol but he says yeah she was a drunk who he doesn't talk about her in that way but says she was an alcoholic and she was in and out of treatment programs and she didn't get clean till I think 15 years ago so for a long time so she does Broach that and you know nobody's also asking some of the heavier questions about face modification cuz it's like all of a sudden there were some very drastic changes with how Fay appeared I mean all of a there showing pictures from the '90s it's like that could be Lauren Hutton that could be Sophia laen I wasn't going to talk about how she looks by I think it's a good point because she does spend quite a bit of time talking about along with Sharon Stone talking about the expectations of actors and their appearance specifically their weight mhm but yeah it's it's odd that there's no mention of like how she kind of transformed her face like there's a distinct point in like the imagery we see where it's like oh that's a different lady and then the way she looks today is very different I don't think she they could have done her better I think her makeup and hair and her smile could have been handled differently but it is what it is uh and also I thought it just she cites because she made a film with him in ' 68 A Place For Lovers uh directed by Desa with she calls marelo marani the lover her life and they had this Whirlwind romance and he was coming to LA and she was flying clandestinely to meet him in Italy and oh Marell was married yeah to Katherine denu whose name you don't even mention which I thought was crazy but and the Ripple effects that that had on that on Katherine denu and her daughter Kiara who there's a movie about marello at cam this year starring Kiara as her father and she's like oh yeah when when my dad went to LA to live with Fay I don't know I just think it's funny that they just handle her with such kid gloves I thought it was well even like her being fired from Tea at Five playing Catherine heurn because that's the play where she allegedly or I guess did I think she she allegedly slapped someone she was getting Huffy with the crew over the the wig and then someone said she called him a gay slur but it was like she called them a little homosexual boy or something I think it was a a PA right something they don't mention I mean they mentioned that she no longer was on the show or the like in the production because she was dealing with some issues but again I think Fay dunway is amazing I think she's a legend yes and I don't need all of her dirty laundry to be aired that's why I'm so confused with a lot of these recent documentaries about very famous people where they skirt this weird line that it's like fans of these people I don't want to hear all the like the crunchy bits I want to hear her tell fabulous stories of when she was fabulous and and and like celebrate all her work I I would would have been totally happy with that but some of those crunchy bits are also part of the the the illusion the aura of them as well it's like in some cases yeah and maybe some people would celebrate that but but it just seems like she doesn't want to so why even bring up a little bit of it like when when somebody makes a you know tell all about Mariah Carey and you have her downplaying everything it's like no we know you're difficult it's it's okay like that that that's just part of the reality of it I don't know why we can't talk about it anyway what would you give Fay um two and a half I would give it three out of five especially if you're a fan of Fay dway I think you will enjoy seeing her if you're not I think that that I would bypass this documentary and watch some of her earlier movies yeah I agree 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Channel: Fish Jelly Film Reviews

Views: 3,776

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Id: FvKBfGtOOtk

Length: 21min 46sec (1306 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 11 2024