Valerie

This admiring documentary about Valerie Perrine has the story arc of a classic tragedy, with its heroine arising from the back row of a Las Vegas pony show, to an Oscar nomination to being sidelined by an array of health problems that have left her bedridden and requiring seven-days-a-week care. Her friends gather on screen to say lovely things about her, and some of them are quite prominent in show business, and it ends with a series of them wishing her well.

Yet behind that framework of tragedy, what do we learn? The events of her life seem random, from being an army brat to movie stardom, and then back into the shadows, only to be trotted out for a half hour. She calls it karma. Perhaps the point is to enjoy what you have while you have it.