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51 Birch Street

Created on 8/23/2006, last active awhile ago.

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Description: Both unexpectedly funny and heartbreaking, 51 Birch Street is the first-person account of Doug Block’s unpredictable journey through a whirlwind of dramatic life-changing events: the death of his mother, the uncovering of decades of family secrets, and the ensuing reconciliation with his father. What begins as his own intimate, autobiographical story, soon evolves into a broader meditation on the universal themes of love, marriage, fidelity and the mystery of family.

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Re: About the film

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paul
Posts 251

8/23/2006 2:24 PM
posted awhile ago

About the film

(Watch the trailer here.)

Synopsis

Documentary filmmaker Doug Block had every reason to believe his parent’s 54-year marriage was a good one. So he isn’t prepared when, just a few months after his mothers’ unexpected death, his 83-year old father, Mike, phones to announce that he’s moving to Florida to live with “Kitty”, his secretary from 40 years before. Always close to his mother and equally distant from his father, he’s stunned and suspicious.

When Mike and Kitty marry and sell the longtime family home, Doug returns to suburban Long Island with camera in hand for one last visit. And there, among the lifetime of memories being packed away forever, he discovers 3 large boxes filled with his moms’ daily diaries going back 35 years.

Realizing he has only a few short weeks before the movers come and his dad will be gone for good, the veteran documentarian sticks around, determined to investigate the mystery of his parents’ marriage. Through increasingly candid conversations with family members and friends, and constantly surprising diary revelations, Doug finally comes to peace with two parents who are far more complex and troubled than he ever imagined.

Both unexpectedly funny and heartbreaking, 51 Birch Street is the first-person account of Block’s unpredictable journey through a whirlwind of dramatic life-changing events: the death of his mother, the uncovering of decades of family secrets, and the ensuing reconciliation with his father. What begins as his own intimate, autobiographical story, soon evolves into a broader meditation on the universal themes of love, marriage, fidelity and the mystery of family.

51 Birch Street spans 60 years and 3 generations, and weaves together hundreds of faded snapshots, 8mm home movies and two decades of verité footage. The result is a timeless tale of what can happen when our most fundamental assumptions about family are suddenly called into question.

Reviews

TORONTO STAR

"51 Birch Street is the latest autobiographical doc sensation"

Rene Rodriguez, MIAMI HERALD

"Extraordinary… spellbinding… an utterly absorbing mystery"

Eddie Cockrell, VARIETY

“A triumph of true-life storytelling… with every bit the emotional punch of the more sensationalist doc fare”

David Hudson, GREENCINE DAILY

"With 51 Birch Street, Doug Block has fashioned an engaging and at times even suspenseful mystery out of his family's story and, along the way, a social history of the American family unfolds, from the uptight 50s through the 70s (a swath of story worthy of Updike, Cheever or Roth) to the present."

Andrew O'Hehir, SALON.COM

"Block has made a sad, delightful and half-accidental movie about his own parents which was the outstanding personal documentary at this year's (SXSW) festival... Profound and humane."

Tom Hall, INDIEWIRE

"Exceptional ... This film should become a huge hit because its central question is universal; if you could learn everything about your parents' lives, would you really want to know? ... This is wonderful non-fiction storytelling."

Bruce Kirkland, TORONTO SUN

"The film is a revelation because it is so folksy and so disarming that we can see ourselves and our own family histories in a fresh new light."

Jim Emerson, RogerEbert.com

"As engrossing as any murder mystery but without melodrama or histrionics, could be this year's Capturing the Friedmans."

Anthony Kaufman, INDIEWIRE

"51 Birch Street is a beautiful, resonant piece of work about how little we know about our parents' lives, about marriage and fidelity, loss and reconciliation. I've often felt that the personal documentary has overstayed its welcome, but Birch Street reaffirms my faith in the form."

Geoff Pevere, TORONTO STAR

"Tears your heart out ... as haunted by ghosts as anything found in a Hollywood horror movie."

Under discussion:

51 Birch Street (2005)

DougBlock
Posts 8

8/24/2006 10:54 AM
posted awhile ago

Re: About the film

Yeah, it's a very personal film about good ol' mom and dad, so it is kind of odd to be getting this kind of attention. NOT that I'm complaining, mind you.

paul
Posts 251

8/28/2006 2:28 PM
posted awhile ago

Re: About the film

I would think it feels odd to have a film about your parents getting so much attention. But the beauty of this little documentary is how it reaches through to anybody old enough to realize their parents are screwed up. Everybody I've watched this documentary with seems to use your parents' story as a portal into exploring their own relationship with their parents and their marriage. They all want to talk about it, and what they wind up talking about are their own relationships.

patches
Posts 120

9/8/2006 2:29 PM
posted awhile ago

Re: About the film

Along the lines of realizations about your parents... In the HBO series, Six Feet Under, there's some great episodes where one of the main characters, Nathan, discovers that his (recently deceased) father (Nathaniel) had rented an apartment for several years and not told anyone in his family. Nathan's father left the apartment filled with playing cards, a stash of pot, old records, a small tv, filled ash trays. It was a place all to his own, no one could tell him to keep his shoes off the couch.

Everyone thought they knew Nathaniel and it was only after his death that he finally began to reveal himself.

When clearing out my Grandfather's room after his death, several years ago, we found thousands of dollars worth of cameras that he secretly collected and hid from my Grandmother. Those were his things, a hobby that no one knew he had, Thousands of dollars that he spent and hid from his family of five children and loving wife. How? none of us know. And only after he passed away was his secret revealed. He couldn't hide it anymore.

Doug, how has this film impacted your family since it's release? Are you finding out other things, are people more open or more secretive with things since this?

DougBlock
Posts 8

9/30/2006 5:42 PM
posted awhile ago

Re: About the film

patches, my family is really proud of the film and they love going around to screenings and being part of the Q&A's afterwards. and the dvd has been passed around to all extended members of the family all year, and done a lot to bring some of us togther. for instance, i got a long email from a first cousin who hadn't spoken to our side of the family in 20 years because of all these grudges she had with her own parents (she's a psychiatrist, of course).

Commish58
Posts 1

10/16/2006 3:27 PM
posted awhile ago

Re: About the film

Although I suppose that post-mortem embarrassment is an oxymoron, I must admit that after watching the film, I went home and literally reflected on whether there were any items 'stashed away' someplace that would shock my loved ones in the event of my untimely demise. And that was just one of the many ways the film affected me, including reflecting on my gradual (and perhaps ongoing even now) discovery of who my parents really were.