Based on legendary producer Robert Evans’ memoir, this film uses a vertigo-inducing style of zooming through still photos. It narrates the fall of Paramount Studios and the rise of The Godfather . It is less a documentary and more a champagne-soaked ghost story told by the ghost himself.
The fourth wall is gone. The showbiz autopsy is complete. And the diagnosis is simple: we were never watching the movie. We were always watching the making of the movie.
October 26, 2023 Subject: Analysis of the "Entertainment Industry Documentary" Genre: Trends, Economics, and Cultural Impact
Consider Leaving Neverland (2019). It is a devastating, necessary film about child sexual abuse. But it is also a documentary about Michael Jackson that made millions of dollars. The subjects—two men detailing their trauma—are not paid. The director, Dan Reed, is. The network, HBO, profits. Is that justice or is that the entertainment industry cannibalizing its own wounded?