by Paulette Reynolds * May 15, 2020
Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind
HBO documentary * 2020
Director: Laurent Bouzereau
HBO documentary * 2020
Director: Laurent Bouzereau
For those of us who grew up watching Natalie Wood reach her adulthood on screen and in the tabloids, HBO's documentary Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind is a walk down Tinsel Town's memory lane - sort of...
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Part home movie, part homage, Natalie's life and times are affectionately recalled by daughters Natasha Gregson Wagner, Courtney, the ever-present "Daddy Wagner” and assorted famous friends.
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Everything feels warm and cozy - just like a Hollywood biography should - until the last fifteen minutes, when it becomes all too clear that there lurks a hidden agenda. Daddy Wagner is cast as a victim of that fateful night, as sister Lana Wood gets the villain role for demanding justice. Family and friends tap dance around the events of that late November weekend in 1981, then we must sit through a lengthy, disingenuous exchange between daughter and “daddy” assuring each other of his innocence.
It's obvious that Wood's offspring miss their beloved mother, but more intriguing is their efforts to paint this romanticized portrait of her life, ignoring Natalie’s rape at sixteen and an abortion in 1977. Perhaps Natasha knew just what topics were safe to cover - in order to sell more copies of her new book, published during the release of this "documentary".
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COPYRIGHT 2012/2020. Paulette Reynolds. All CineMata Movie Madness blog articles, reviews, faux interviews, commentary, and the Cine Mata character are under the sole ownership of Paulette Reynolds. All intellectual and creative rights reserved.
