SEDUCED AND ABANDONED combines acting legend Alec Baldwin with director James Toback as they lead us on a troublesome and often hilarious journey of raising financing for their next feature film. Moving from director to financier to star actor, the two players provide us with a unique look behind the curtain at the world's biggest and most glamourous film festival, shining a light on the bitter-sweet relationship filmmakers have with Cannes and the film business. Featuring insights from directors Martin Scorsese, 'Bernando Bertolucci' and Roman Polanski; actors Ryan Gosling and Jessica Chastain and a host of film distribution luminaries.
Baldwin and Toback make a snappy comic duo, and half of their talks with a line-up of luminaries focus on the art of filmmaking rather than the business.
– Dave Calhoun,
Time Out,
5 Nov 2013
fresh:
A fun, larky travel essay and commentary on the film biz, an exquisite wallow in the most rarefied sort of first-world problems.
– Hank Stuever,
Washington Post,
28 Oct 2013
rotten:
Ironically, the failure of the financing mission gives [it] a sharper edge. But in the end, that edge will probably be of more interest to Baldwin, Toback and the film biz than to a civilian, who mostly wants to know why she can't find a decent rom-com.
– David Hinckley,
New York Daily News,
28 Oct 2013
fresh:
Toback's directorial intuition proves to be spot-on: their self-revealing brave face on humiliation and despair is deeply cinematic.
– Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
28 Oct 2013
fresh:
This one seems to effortlessly breathe on its own as a buddy/buddy "road picture" with scenic pathways, a few dead ends and refreshing breezes throughout.