Evening in Byzantium

One of Irwin Shaw's most unforgettable heroes battles to resurrect his declining career against a tough cast of women, whiskey, and old memories Jesse Crain was made for Cannes. A middle-aged filmmaker who dazzled audiences during Hollywood's Golden Age, Crain is talented, worldly, ambitious, and he knows how to play the game. As the Riviera sparkles in the spring of 1970, Crain juggles industry players while charming a persistent young journalist and fending off groupies. Beneath his polished exterior, though, Crain's life is coming apart at the seams. His last two films flopped, and for several years he's been adrift. Now desperate to reignite his career, a hit at any price feels like his only salvation. Evening in Byzantium is a masterwork that brilliantly documents a man's precipitous slide—along with that of his industry—from independence toward cynical mediocrity. It is a timeless story of a determined character grappling with the nature of success and...