Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds (2016)

Fortuitously timed documentary about the relationship between mother/daughter stars Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher. I suspect this was originally planed to air closer to Mothers Day but was moved up after the films subjects died within about a day of each other last month. Reynolds and Fisher's relationship had been strained in the past, and Fisher had written a thinly disguised book about that called Post Cards from the Edge, which later became a (pretty good) movie with Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine. By the time this documentary begin production Fisher and Reynolds relationship had largely healed and the two were very close, living for around 2 decades or so in neighboring homes on a small "compound" outside Los Angeles. It's a very charming relationship they had with each other, and I found myself wishing they had been relations of mine and I had been able to visit them periodically, it would have been great fun just to sit in a room and watch them interact. The film gives you a good sense of how frustrated Reynolds was by her declining heath, she seemed to want to do nothing more then perform. Fisher seems like a delightfully wry character who had achieved a impressive peace with herself given a prolonged rough patch. This film is a wonderful portrait of a beguiling relationship. ***1/2