The Kid Stays in the Picture | Review

Doc skilfully captures the Rise and Fall (and Rise again) of a Hollywood empire.

The first thought that came to mind when the end credits rolled up the screen and Dustin Hoffman hysterical out-take ended was “if they made documentaries like this for every person I’d most likely go and watch them. Upon further reflection, I see this to be false. Why? The reason is that I’m not too sure that many people in the biz would have such a hypnotizing and gripping tale. No, Robert Evans didn’t survive the holocaust he survived Hollywood.

With an impudence and somewhat wryly-toned voice, Evans’ autobiographical book comes to life as he launches his one-sided candid assault of his accounts in the ‘biz’ with those who backed him up and those who had their backs to him. You’ve got to love his beginnings-the Hollywood playboy to be leaving his foot in the door and keeping it there with his fateful luck-plenty session of frolicking around in a Beverly Hills pool, and with the determination of a poker player with a really bad hand this bad actor/future producer goes from the longest shot in history to the odds on favourite. For a cinephile like myself, The Kid Stays in the Picture is particularly appealing just like watching the supplemental commentary track from a film on DVD. The juicy ‘stories’ behind the stories (as in film plots) of the Evan’s trials and tribulations are of interest because the include some of the biggest names all of the stars, directors and even congressmen involved in the classic cinema events of the 1970 ‘s. The visuals that match the narration are not the boring image collage or montage of historical video clips that we are so used to with and perfected by television docs, -co-directors Brett Morgen and Nanette Burstein used the Evan’s picture gallery to their advantage and almost animate some of those images with a sort of card-board cut-out like quality device. A nice touch is the deeply integrated floating shots of his home, – with this oasis-inducing cinematography of Evan’s residence- we understand how at one time an Ali McGraw could have been seduced and we realize the important role it played in protecting the man from the battery of the biz that almost took his life. I liked the idea of framing some of his picture frames that decorate his office and home and the real clincher piece of footage is this mini-featurette presented to the main investors at Paramount Pictures showing the handsome Evan’s commitment to making quality films with the words Love Story & The Godfather as the ace up his sleeves.

At one point during the film, I thought that this might just become an elongated rant, by a bitter man past his prime but I think that the opening title “There are three sides to every story, your side, my side and the truth and no one is lying,-memories shared serve each differently. ” by Evans reveals much more about the man that he is rather than his state of mind when he wrote his book. With a grain of salt you’ll enjoy this film for Evan’s candour and by the simple fact that everyone loves an underdog. This is entertaining filmmaking a rare non-IMAX theatrically released documentary treat-now let’s just hope that Brian Grazer doesn’t get any funny ideas (20 years later down the road).

Rating 4 stars