I don’t understand art. Scroll back through my recent articles and you’ll find glowing reviews of culture tailored to teenagers. My favorite movies aren’t anything the American Film Institute might approve of. I’ve dressed the same since the seventh grade. So when I fired up “Seduced and Abandoned,” a reference-heavy documentary from the supposedly genius mind of Alec Baldwin, I was lost, with little hope of regaining my footing. This is coming from a person who, after scanning Baldwin’s IMDb backlog, has only seen his performance in “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.” I can hear you laughing.
My acquaintance with Baldwin began during a tiny flirtation with a game of “Words With Friends” on an airplane. My knowledge developed just earlier this week, when a well-written episode of “South Park” lampooned the veteran actor’s propensity to say anything churning in his enigmatic brain.
“Seduced” isn’t too far off from that animated portrayal. Sure, it has an ensemble cast of directors and personalities, and review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes seems to have fallen head over heels for it, but I’m going to “abandon” that praise. Let’s take a voyage to Planet Alec.
Despite the frequent flyer miles Baldwin has accrued, he reveals early in the film he’s never before made it to the Cannes Film Festival — until now. The next 90 minutes unfold like a road movie for cinema buffs, where conversations with everyone from Ryan Gosling to Martin Scorsese reinforce Baldwin’s illusions of grandeur. It’s kind of neat to see all of these auteurs in one place, even if the majority of the time Baldwin merely highlights key points of his own career.
The premise of the whole production is a satire of the mess that is financing a motion picture. Baldwin and his team decide to ship out to France in hopes of securing funds for their ambitious project — a remake of Bernardo Bertolucci’s “Last Tango in Paris” that updates the dizzying erotic drama’s legacy of awkwardness to an Iraqi setting and rechristen it a political thriller.
The execution is clever when you think about it, and it’s a unique way to offer commentary on Hollywood commerce. Hollywood pumps dollars into these vapid, action-packed movies without question. From time to time, even art-house fare, some as pornographic and controversial as “Tango,” can get studio funding. The film’s band of brothers attempt to marry these two cinematic camps. Will it blend? I’m still in the dark on that one.
Though the documentary doesn’t play out like the cerebral cataclysm of an Aaron Sorkin production, and it goes without the charm and wonder of a Wes Anderson film, there’s definite personality here. In the scenes where Baldwin sits sternly in front of a rolling camera, spewing his associations with famed creative types and asserting his own creative strengths, we’re introduced to a man who demands attention and artistic legitimacy. Alright, already! We get it. You’re a big Hollywood player. Take a number and get in line with the rest of the so-called hot shots.
It’s a shame that this incredible gathering of silver-screen personalities gets sidelined by one man’s maniacal vision of himself and his craft. Because of this, “Seduced and Abandoned” seems to seduce and abandon the viewer with an empty portrait of the film world. It’s worth a viewing if one’s knowledge of cinema trumps one’s stomach for narcissism. Mine definitely didn’t.
Read More
Wes Anderson remains devoted to his signature style in “Asteroid City”
By Delaney Hammond | July 13, 2023In his newest release “Asteroid City,” Anderson presents a healthy dose of that signature flair his fans know so well. With the help of a star-studded cast and co-writer Roman Coppola, the filmmaker explores the artistic process and what it means to be a storyteller.
“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” is a brilliant return to the multiverse
By Melanie Chuh | June 27, 2023“Into the Spider-Verse” carefully curated Miles’s 2D comic book world, but “Across the Spider-Verse” introduces a greater variety of animation.
“Beau Is Afraid” of his own delusions and audiences should be too
By Jamie Jeong | May 4, 2023The film is the most controversial of Aster’s work by far for good reason, however, it seems to fulfill exactly what he ultimately wanted — for audiences to walk out of the theater wanting to throw up, questioning everything they just saw and afraid to call their mother back.
