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A Warner Bros release. Directed by Nanette Burnstein and Brett Morgen. Released to DVD on August 19, 2003. 
The idea of memorializing someone in film is certainly nothing new. Biopics have been around since the early days of cinema and documentaries celebrating the accomplishments of societal pioneers and celebrities have come in vogue during the last several years with films like The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg, Comedian and Dogtown and Z Boyz hitting multiplexes. However, even with this in mind, something about The Kid Stays in the Picture didn’t seem quite right. Like watching Canadian Football or Australian sit-coms, there was just something slightly off about the production. For starters, the entire movie is narrated in a very familiar first person. While this isn’t necessarily a groundbreaking technique like the very first use of a steadi-cam or computer generated effects, it was unusual enough at times to take me out of the movie (like when the narrator decides to constantly refer to Roman Polanski as a "Pollack"); racial slurs don’t always promote compelling storytelling in non-fiction films. It is narrated in such a style because, as one could logically assume, it is narrated by the film’s subject, Evans. However, in an even more bizarre twist, the narration of the film was taped in, get this, 1994 or 1995. The reason for this 8-9 year discrepancy between the recording and the film’s 2002 release is because the narration is an audio track of Evans reading his autobiography aloud. So, aside from the addition of the bright primary colors and vibrant stock footage present throughout the film, this project mirrors the maddening vagueness of the book, only here, the material was also edited for time. Evans is a gifted producer of motion pictures even now (he most recently produced How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days), and I enjoyed learning about his over-night rise to fame during the ‘50’s and putting an image or two to some of the stories that have been floating around Hollywood for years. With Evans’ presence both in front and behind the camera throughout The Kid Stays in the Picture, however, I couldn’t help but wonder how much of the story was compromised or embellished to make its subject look better.
emily moss yes, it's true: Robert Evans’ father was a dentist. |
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