The Kid Stays in the Picture

Robert Evans was discovered in a shop. He became an actor; he was not a good one and says so himself. Then he was put at the head of a studio. Paramount was close to collapse at the time. Within a few years Evans green lit the films that put it back on its feet. Then he moved into producing on his own. After that everything fell apart: a drug case, being close to a murder investigation, bankruptcy and years without work. The documentary tells all of it in Evans's own voice. Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgen direct. Robert Evans narrates. It is an American production. The source is his autobiography, published in 1994; he had read the audio version himself and the documentary uses that recording. Its form is photographic animation; still photographs are separated into layers and moved, a method used often in documentaries afterwards. Its method is a single source; everything is Evans's account and there is no other side. Some of what he describes has been reported differently by others; the documentary gives those objections no room. The matter it treats is the end of a studio period; the director led cinema of the seventies comes out of those decisions. Its sound and rhythm are bound to how Evans speaks; the narrative proceeds like a monologue. Its limit is verification; the narrative is partisan and as unreliable as it is enjoyable. Who it is for: anyone curious about Hollywood history and producers' accounts. Who it is not for: it is one sided, unverified, and closed to anyone unfamiliar.