Five Minutes, Mr. Welles (2005) User Reviews

A Wonderful Homage To Orson Welles

[VictimsOfRetail · 10/10 · 17 June 2008]

Directed, written and starring the renowned Vincent D'Onofrio, "Five Minutes, Mr. Welles is a witty, imaginative and insightful portrayal of Orson Welles, as he is rehearsing scenes with a young lady, smartly played by Janine Therault. A short film rounding the film festival circuit in 2004, "Five Minutes, Mr. Welles" gives very thoughtful insight into the Man himself, peppering in aspects of some rumored character idiosyncrasies, along with brilliant dialog, that allows the viewer a fly-on-the-wall perspective. A magnificent homage from Vincent D'Onofrio, with a style of filming and dialog true to its intended time period. "Five Minutes, Mr. Welles" is bound to delight fans of Orson Welles, and Vincent D'Onofrio alike.

Fictional account of Orson Welles preparing for scene in The Third Man.

[bpfaff · 10/10 · 7 August 2006]

I saw this movie at the SF Film Festival. The fact that it does not seem to be available for purchase (anywhere!) is literally the only negative thing I can say about it.

It struck me as one of those films that offer something new with each viewing and I've only been able to see it once. At the risk of sounding whiney, that's just not enough! Intelligent dialog, a captivating visual experience, terrific acting - Holy Toledo! - trying to pay proper attention to each bit of excellence wore me out. The experience was ... I don't know... frantic and delicious at the same time. I'd love to be able to watch the movie and savor it, but I have neither the time nor the resources to traipse all over the globe locating and attending film festivals that run it. Dang!

Thirty Minutes, Mr. Welles

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 25 February 2019]

"Five Minutes, Mr. Welles" is an American English-language short film and the first effort as writer and director for Vincent D'Onofrio. This is from 2005, so almost 15 years old now, which means it is from his earlier days of Criminal Intent, perhaps his career-defining project. If not that, then Men in Black. Anyway, I love the man, so I was curious about this one here just like I am curious about his new upcoming film as a director because it is pretty star-studded. Anyway, back to this one here. It is in black-and-white and a two-person piece as D'Onofrio plays legendary filmmaker Orson Welles and the film takes us many decades back. The only criticism I have here is that I am not sure D'Onofrio was the right choice physically for Welles. Other than that, he is top-notch. It is a charcter as baity as it gets and Vincent is such a physical and charismatic actor that he definitely makes it work. His female equivalent is played by Janine Theriault and I was impressed by her too, not just her looks. She held her own pretty well in a challenging role next to the force of nature that D'Onofrio is. This film here runs for half an hour, slightly under not counting credits, slightly over with credits. This may be a good watch together with The Third Man that it is closely linked to, so yep here we have another example of film on film. I personally may be very biased because of how much I like the man in charge here in front of as well as behind the camera, who by the way turns 60 this year I think, but in my opinion you should give this one a go. I did not understand everything, otherwise I maybe would have liked it even more. It is a really dialogue-driven movie we have here, but no surprise as it is about Orson Welles. Still, somehow despite all the retro elements like the lack of color and the pretty good set decoration, I was not really feeling the nostalgia and old days vibe as much as I hoped I would. So I "only" give it 3 stars out of 5.