Cinema Verite (2011)

In 1971, a documentary film maker (James Gandolfini) approaches a Santa Barbara homemaker (Diane Lane) about filming her family's day to day life in a 10 hour series for public television. The family accepts and "reality" TV is born. Directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, the film attempts to take a behind the scenes look at how the groundbreaking documentary AN AMERICAN FAMILY came to be born and how it ended up being more than what it was intended to be.  But even then, "reality" television wasn't pure (it's gotten so much worse today) as its creator crossed lines and boundaries that manipulated what we ended up seeing. Although CINEMA VERITE provides an insightful look at both the so called "reality" of documentary film making when it has an agenda and what appears a typical American family on the surface unravels when the camera's eye turns on them, I wouldn't accept what we see here as fact either. The film provides another opportunity for the undervalued Diane Lane to shine, she's truly spectacular here. With Tim Robbins, Kathleen Quinlan, Patrick Fugit, Lolita Davidovich, Shanna Collins and Thomas Dekker.