This is an absolutely gut-wrenching documentary. It is basically a video "letter" from the filmmaker/narrator to the newborn son of his recently-murdered friend. The kid was born 5 months after his father's murder so he never got to meet him. Complicating things? The killer was the kid's mom. The director learns that there was a major part of his slain friend's life (photography) that he was unaware-of so he decides to drive from California to Newfoundland (where the guy's parents live), interviewing people along the way to learn as much as possible about this friend he'd known for 20+ years. What emerges is that this guy was a great guy. No, a GREAT guy. As in he had something like 7 friends that wanted him to be best man at their weddings. Intermixed with that journey are updates on the case against the mom. The murder took place in the US but she'd fled to Newfoundland with their son. We get updates on the maddeningly-slow extradition process. The guy's parents moved to Newfoundland to be near their grandson and to push for custody. They are saints of the highest order, acting normal around this psycho who killed their son, jumping through all of her hoops, whatever it takes to meet with their grandson. As a movie, all of this works really well. The story is engaging, heartbreaking, and well-told. This is a movie that packs an INCREDIBLE emotional punch and will leave you torn apart, exhausted, and angry. Really, really, really angry. I can't really go into too much more detail here - to do so would be to give away a big chunk of the movie and that wouldn't be fair. Anyway, this is a great movie and highly, highly recommended. Just be ready for it. 9/10.
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