No. 26. (2020) NATALIE WOOD: WHAT REMAINS BEHIND May 9th.

Film No. 26 (2020)  May 9th.  7:35 PM.  HBO Fox   Living Room   Mt. Hawthorn. W.A. 

"What do we think about re-opening this case?". (One of just a few perplexing questions put to, Daddy Robert Wagner, by step daughter and film's co-producer Natasha Gregson Wagner).

You won't be able to take your eyes off this HBO documentary. The titles will flick on, it will feel nothing more than a standard hour you've sat, wrong! It had been two hours. I sat mesmerized by both the beauty and talent of Natalie Wood as her legend is unraveled by Laurent Bouzereau (Director) and Natasha Gregson Wagner (Producer), daughter of Wood.

The film is a mix of tribute, deserved, and family editorial which is quite likely deserved. The fascination of WHAT REMAINS BEHIND is the interview set pieces between step daughter Natasha and step "daddy" Robert Wagner. They take up 20% of the film and they simply reinforce what Wagner has always said happened on that fateful night in November 1981. There has never, baring tabloid talk, been any reason to disbelieve Wagner or Christopher Walken (also on the boat). Viewers can make up their own minds based on these scenes.

Ignoring the set pieces, WRB is possibly the best tribute film ever made on the legend that is Natalie Wood. I'd forgotten the talent Wood possessed. From childhood she was dominating scenes in films like The Ghost and Mrs Muir (1947) as an eight year old, Rebel Without a Cause (1955) at 26  and then Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice (1969) as a 31 year old. In an era when women were still undervalued by the big studios, Wood is portrayed as a genuinely good mum, performer, friend, advocate and all round person. Most literature written on Wood rarely contradicts that image.

As a doco, WRB is not exceptional. It is however both entertaining and enlightening. It leaves us to ponder (the interview set pieces) the grieving experienced by her family. And for those Wood fans who have always felt duped when she left our screens so suddenly, this is not to be missed. 9GUMS.