Seduced and Abandoned

The Cannes Film Festival is a yearly celebration of films, from the blockbusters to the lesser known. However in the back drop of this glamour is the back room deals that make movies come to life. Alec Baldwin and director James Toback take you behind the scenes of this circus as they discuss the process and seek funding for their own project. Along the way they cross paths with players of the industry and get the nuts and bolts of what makes the movie business tick. Cannes is a glamorous film festival but it also is a hot bed of action and the nitty gritty of the unglamorous side of movie making. Movie making business is a challenge, as repeated in the film Orsen Welles shared that "I look back on my life and it's 95% running around trying to raise money to make movies and 5% actually making them. It's no way to live".

SEDUCED AND ABANDONED begins with a fascinating premise, as actor Alec Baldwin and filmmaker James Toback try to raise funds for their proposed new movie, tentatively entitled "Last Tango in Tikrit." This documentary charts their efforts to schmooze a variety of investors from various countries into giving them the $15m. necessary to finance the movie. Some of the situations are extremely funny, especially when Toback tries his level best to convince the investors of the viability of his proposal, even if it means agreeing to any and every suggestion the investors propose. However the film's principal subject-matter gets lost, as many of the movie people interviewed (including actors Ryan Gosling and Jessica Chastain, directors Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola) discuss various topics, including their origins, the arts of acting and directing, and their views of filmmaking as a whole. As a result the narrative tends to sag in places, despite numerous reminders - in the form of visuals - that the film business comprises 95% hustling and 5% filmmaking. On the plus side, both Baldwin and Toback come across as basically likable and sincere, the kind of artists that should be encouraged in their future endeavors.

In this HBO Documentary film, filmmaker James Toback (The Gambler, Bugsy, Tyson) and actor Alec Baldwin trek to the Cannes Film Festival, in May of 2012, to try and raise money for their proposed movie. Although, this film may be more geared to film buffs, a moniker I can unabashedly admit to, I thought it offered lots and lots of wit and humor, as well as wonderful insider stories from those in the movie industry.

They meet with distributors, billionaires, heads of movie studios, and film stars such as Ryan Gosling, Jessica Chastain, Berenice Bejo, Diane Kruger, and James Caan. They also talk to some of the real greats in filmmaking, such as Coppola, Polanski, Scorcese, and Bertolucci. I thought almost all these meetings and interviews were remarkably candid and enjoyable.

I might mention one story told by Francis Ford Coppola. After winning 6 Oscars from the "Godfather" movies, he couldn't get financing for his next movie, so in frustration he threw his Oscars out the window and they smashed into smithereens. However, his mother came along, picked up the shattered pieces and took them to the Academy to get replacements, telling them the maid accidentally broke them.

We get to see how the movie industry has changed over the past decades, and it can be quite the sad portrait. Now, it seems unless you're trying to finance a high budget franchise film, your chances of receiving funding for a mid-range movie, even with known stars, is extremely difficult. A lot of the distributors and investors admit that they don't even care about the quality of the script, just in the profit projections from their money people.

Just to mention as the interviews are progressing, photos or film clips of the subjects or persons they're discussing appear briefly on a split screen. My biggest objection to this style was that the clips were not left on screen long enough so I had to use my pause button quite a bit. Also, there are some scenes where strong sexual connotations or language are explicitly used, for those sensitive to that.

All in all, as mentioned this documentary may appeal mostly to film aficionados, I found it quite humorous and interesting from start to finish.

Everything was painfully familiar to me but I managed to laugh nonetheless. The meeting with Avi Lerner should be obligatory viewing for beginners. And Mark Damon? He was an actor in Italian films of the 60's, not Fellini mind you but the others who made low budget epics. The landscape of "how to get financing for movies" has changed radically in the last few years but this is a residue of something that is still very much alive. Alec Baldwin pitching the idea to tired foreign sales agents is a delight and the comments from Martin Scorsese and other giants, are priceless. If you're in the business you'll laugh in recognition, if you're a civilian with ideas to join the film world of independent movies, this may give you pause.

The good: this reportage is (only) kinda interesting when famous directors like Bertolucci, Scorsese and Coppola are being interviewed.

The bad: unfortunately the famous folks only get very short screentime and this reportage unfortunately is mostly about Alec Baldwin quacking about how to get money for a new film he wants to make. THAT was NOT interesting any more after having watched it over 15 minutes.

This reportage (not a documentary) should have (at least) been cut in half and it should have deleted many (MANY) scenes with Alec Baldwin in it talking about getting money for his new movie, because it is quite tedious to watch.