Must Read After My Death

More bitter than sweet, director Morgan Dews' painstaking documentary about his grandmother Allis'  troubled married life raising four children in Hartford, Connecticut--that she documented with endless Dictaphone recordings, home movies, and photos--is as much a time capsule of the Eastern Seaboard's '50s and '60s era fascination with psychiatrists and questioning of social constraints as it is about a failed attempt at carrying on an open marriage. Dews discovered the materials, labeled by Allis with the film's title, after her death in 2001 and set about learning the intimate details of Allis' unconventional marriage to a temperamental insurance executive named Charley, of whom she never spoke after his death. Allis and Charley were both married to other people when they met, and their mutual adultery set the stage for a disconnected union maintained via recordings that the couple would send back and forth while Charley traveled abroad on business and pleasure.

Upon his return the couple entered into analysis and Allis continued to secretly record aspects of their lives as a way of communicating with a stream of therapists that the couple compulsively met with, and exposed each of their children to, until Charley's mysterious death. Much of the film's poignant punch comes from the surprisingly articulate and ardent voices of the couple's three distressed boys Bruce, Chuck, and Douglas as they desperately shout to be heard above the din of their parents' fighting, while their sister Anne remains uncomfortably quiet. Complex and percolating with a cruel subtext of reckless psychiatrists, "Must Read After My Death" is deeply personal and troubling documentary.
(Gigantic Pictures) Not Rated. 73 mins. (B-) (Three Stars)

The public will be able to access the film for digital viewing at www.giganticdigital.com beginning this Friday morning, February 20th at 10am Eastern. (This is the same day that it opens theatrically in New York.) The ticket price will be $2.99 for a 3-day, unlimited viewing ticket. We'll be streaming the film in up to HD quality (depending on the viewer's available bandwidth and hardware setup) and commercial-free. Beginning on the 20th we'll be launching v.2 of our player which will allow the viewer to dial up or dial down the quality of the stream so that they receive the best possible quality for their particular setup. The trailer can be viewed here: www.giganticdigital.com. The official film website: www.mustreadaftermydeath.com