Overview
This month’s selections are all about fakes and forgeries and the wily practitioners that create them.
F for Fake
Rated PG | 1hr 29min | 88% Rotten Tomatoes
This Orson Welles film documents the lives of infamous fakers Elmyr de Hory and Clifford Irving. De Hory, who later committed suicide to avoid more prison time, made his name by selling forged works of art by painters like Picasso and Matisse. Irving was infamous for writing a fake autobiography of Howard Hughes. Welles moves between documentary and fiction as he examines the fundamental elements of fraud and the people who commit fraud at the expense of others.
Where to Watch
Stream: HBO Max
Rent: Amazon Prime, Apple TV
Buy: Amazon Prime, Apple TV
MMFA Collection Connections
Art and Craft
Not Rated | 1hr 30min | 91% Rotten Tomatoes
Mark Landis has been called one of the most prolific art forgers in US history. His body of work spans thirty years and covers multiple styles and periods. He donated his fakes to museums across the country. Matthew Leininger, a registrar in Cincinnati, discovers the ruse, confronts Landis to stop forging and giving his work to museums, and ends up organizing an exhibition of Landis’ work. In this discovery, Leininger and viewers learn that Landis is a diagnosed schizophrenic whose elaborate con is also a means to cultivate connection and respect – feeding what he now understands as an outright “addiction to philanthropy.”
Where to Watch
Stream: Amazon Prime
Rent: Amazon, YouTube, Vudu, Apple TV
Buy: Amazon, YouTube, Vudu, Apple TV
MMFA Collection Connections
There Are No Fakes
Not Rated | 1hr 53min | 78% IMDb
A painting, thought to be the work of iconic Indigenous artist Norval Morrisseau, leads Kevin Hearn of the Barenaked Ladies who buys it into the tragic and brutal world of an art forgery ring in Canada.
Where to Watch
Stream: Amazon Prime
Rent: Amazon, YouTube, Apple TV, Google Play
Buy: Apple TV, Amazon, Google Play, YouTube
MMFA Collection Connections
