Golden Threads

If the subject of your bio-documentary has a debilitating stroke before she can tell you her life story, should you fill in your tape as best you can, or just forget the whole thing? Producers Lucy Winer and Karen Eaton opt for the former in their story of 93-year-old Christine Burton, founder of Golden Threads, a networking service for mid-life and elder lesbians. Initial home-movie-style footage filmed at GT's 9th annual weekend celebration in Provincetown, MA, is illuminating enough: we hear the charming tale of a five-year relationship that began at a GT celebration, while others provide first-hand accounts of old-style New York City bar-raids, and Burton herself eloquently philosophizes. The producers' plan was to get Burton's life story after the celebration, but her stroke prevented any interviewing. So, in place of the usual details we've come to expect in a bio-pic, director Winer fills in with redundant still photographs, jarring scenes of Burton at her rehabilitation chores in the nursing home, and, most obviously, Winer's own feelings about aging, as well as her constant presence throughout the film. I've never been a fan of the intrusive "here's me in the car on the way to the celebration; here's me feeling bad about Christine's stroke" style of filmmaking, especially when it takes the place of actual facts, but because this tape does fill the lesbian and aging niches, I can suggest it as a strong optional purchase for comprehensive gay-lesbian and/or aging collections. Aud: C, P. (K. Glaser)