Back to the Past

 

Every once in a while, we all need a reminder.   If you want to see a captivating story on a big screen, go see a documentary.   There are a few good ones out right now and "Still - A Michael J. Fox Movie" is included.  You might not learn anything you didn't already know, but it sure is great to be told the story one more time.

Of course, regular readers to "People Magazine" know all the details.   Back in the 80s and early 90s, nobody was hotter in Hollywood than Michael J. Fox.   His life was perfect.   Except in 1990, he wakes up one morning with a quivering pinky finger and pretty quickly is diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease.  Indeed, he hides this fact for another seven years---always living in hope that the medication would kick in right before the next time he had to go on camera.

Eventually when the news is out, Fox becomes a voice and an advocate for Parkinson's research, even though it still remains a degenerative disease.   And, amazingly, he keeps on acting as well.

All of the above is expanded in the film and the primary narrator is Michael J. Fox himself.  We see him with his trainer trying to learn how to walk without falling down and breaking bones.   We watch him with longtime loving wife Tracy Pollan and their four grown children.  We hear him comment on the excesses of alcohol he used to imbibe in.  Even though this is little new information, you are mesmerized again nonetheless.

If there is one quibble from me, it's with the film's director Lewis Guggenheim.  To illustrate moments in Michael's life, he uses stock footage from his many films.   The device is very cheesy and better we have just the image of Michael's present day talking head on camera.   That is more than enough to tell the story.

"Still" is yet another documentary film that graces the very genre with its presence.  More, please.

LEN'S RATING:  Three-and-a-half stars.

Dinner last night:  Beef and broccoli.