Seduced and Abandoned

Newsflash: the movie biz caters to big, overblown comic-book franchise schlock while forsaking smaller, more personal material. Who'da thunk it? That familiar plight is explored in this HBO documentary by two insiders, director James Toback and actor Alec Baldwin, who crash the money-rich, artistically bankrupt Cannes Film Festival. In a Riviera climate of superstar hype, marketing, and immense wealth (presented with a Shostakovich soundtrack), the conspirators film themselves shopping around a hard-sell movie idea—a Last Tango in Paris remake set in Iraq as a political-sexual thriller, featuring Baldwin and Neve Campbell. Most investors shun the idea of backing what clearly sounds like box-office poison, citing the lack of internationally bankable stars or car/submarine chases. Fringe benefits here (or interruptions of the non-starter narrative) are Q&As with Cannes scenesters Bernardo Bertolucci, James Caan, Jessica Chastain, Diane Kruger, Ryan Gosling, Diablo Cody, etc. Martin Scorsese and Roman Polanski also share warm memories of Cannes career breakthroughs, but join Francis Ford Coppola in the general opinion that the era of funding a Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, or Chinatown is long gone. Author/gossip reporter Taki complains that Cannes is overrun by Russian oligarch crooks. And yet, they all still love cinema, for its illusion of immortality and the rare triumph that happens when a worthwhile picture gets made. Toback (who appears considerably less weathered than his 1970s contemporaries) and Baldwin are interesting enough, but the premise here is old news. A strong optional purchase. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)