Alec Baldwin
James Toback

James Toback

Documentary
HBO
October 28, 2013 (TV Premiere)
TV-NR

“Seduced and Abandoned” is a documentary that shares its name with an Italian film by Pietro Germi that was entered into the 1964 Cannes Film Festival. It’s a well-made, HBO-distributed documentary film, directed by James Toback, about the process of selling not only films and but also ideas for films to producers. It resembles a rambling conversation among friends and other like-minded people (in a good way), yet it’s deceptively well-edited.

In this documentary, Alec Baldwin and Toback go to Cannes in order to secure funding for a hypothetical film that’s similar to “Last Tango in Paris.” They plan to set this film in Tikrit, and it will star Baldwin and Neve Campbell: It’s a fool’s gambit, on purpose.

Throughout “Seduced and Abandoned,” interviews with actors (Berenice Bejo, Ryan Gosling, Jessica Chastain, James Caan, and Diane Kruger, among others), directors (Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, and Bernardo Bertolucci), and producers are featured. They also explore the history of Cannes as a way to explore how the process of funding a film is changing. This is about the film industry as it is now, compared to what it was. We’re shown that, now, it’s all about the bottom line (running the numbers). It’s not about the financing of art.

Today, films need stars (not just one) who are all bankable. Even Baldwin can’t get producers to invest enough money in his and Toback’s hypothetical film without the addition of several other names. He’s seen as a comedic actor, so he needs lots of other stars to join him in order to get a drama made. He and Neve Campbell won’t cut it. Ryan Gosling and Jessica Chastain or Natalie Portman or Mila Kunis would have no trouble, though.

In addition, “Seduced and Abandoned” features great directors and their creative processes. They also discuss the business of acting, including training, auditioning, working with directors and other actors, and how seemingly impossible it can be to get a job. These artists struggle to find ways to finance their art; they have to sign on to trash, at times, to finance what they really want to do.

“Seduced and Abandoned” is a sobering look at the movie business presented by people (Toback and Baldwin) who love movies. This is for anyone who thinks that the most talented people always rise to the top – it may correct that perspective – and it’s for lovers of cinema who are interested in a humorous take on the current business climate of cinema and how that climate fits within a historical context.

Verdict: Very Good

About: (Source: seduced)

For ten days in May 2012, director James Toback and actor Alec Baldwin worked their way through the Cannes Film Festival in an attempt to secure financing for a proposed film project, a political-erotic Middle Eastern adventure inspired by Bernardo Bertolucci’s classic “Last Tango in Paris.”

As they dashed around – hopeful against all odds – Toback filmed the hilarious and revealing proceedings, from pitches to billionaires, studio moguls, producers and international sales financiers, to intimate encounters with major movie stars and iconic directors whose passion for movies proves it’s still possible to transcend the madness.

The cinematic romp SEDUCED AND ABANDONED captures the tug-of-war between the eternal dream of creating pure art and the bracing reality of modern movie commerce.