Whisky by Juan Pablo Rebella

There is so much going on in this film and a lot of it lies beneath the surface. Jacobo, a sock factory owner in Uruguay finds himself having to get ready for a visit from his younger, more vivacious and quite prosperous brother Herman. Herman has run a very successful sock factory in Brazil for the past twenty years. Family ties have been lost but Herman does manage to come to visit for the ritual of placing a memorial stone for their mother’s grave. Jacobo has taken care of their mother during her final years. He doesn't want his brother to think he is alone now, so he enlists Marta a longtime employee to masquerade as his wife. I was taken with how well the film moved cinematically and with its subtleties. I won’t tell you why the title is Whisky - you’ll have to see it to find out. - Reviewed by Patricia

51 Birch Street by Doug Block

This documentary tries to answer one of the most basic questions children often have about their parents – are they really happy together? Documentary filmmaker Doug Block believed that his parents, Mike and Mina Block, had a strong, but maybe not entirely loving, marriage that lasted for 54 years. When Mina died suddenly of pneumonia, Mike shocked the family by taking a trip to Florida and reconnecting with his old secretary from work, Kitty, three months after Mina’s death. Did this mean Mike had been cheating on his wife for over 30 years?

Struggling with the news that his father has married his secretary, and that he will be moving to Florida and selling the Long Island family house, Doug Block tries to learn more about his parents and what went wrong. This process is helped greatly by old photographs, interviews with family and friends, and a surprise treasure trove of daily diary entries from Mina herself. When Doug finally agrees to read his mother’s diaries, he is in for a shock about her marriage over the years. A surprise conversation with his father towards the end of the documentary explains his father’s side of a difficult marriage and a renewed sense of love at the age of 83. Highly recommended for documentary lovers and those interested in family histories. – Reviewed by Sarah