Mondays at Racine

A heartbreaking documentary with traces of sweetness, the Oscar-nominated Mondays at Racine takes viewers to a beauty salon on Long Island owned by two sisters—Rachel Demolfetto and Cynthia Sansone—whose mother died of breast cancer in 1984. The sisters offer free treatments once a month to women who are losing their hair to chemo or radiation treatment. While this generally means giving buzz cuts (surprisingly empowering) and applying makeup to boost morale, the salon visits are also a healing and welcoming time-out for these clients, whose everyday lives are an endless struggle. Filmmaker Cynthia Wade digs deep into the stories of a couple of the women, one a 36-year-old diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer and the other a 58-year-old who is still alive 17 years after her own breast cancer diagnosis. Wade takes us into the marriages, family lives, and medical routines of the two, capturing momentous decisions, difficult conversations, and acts of great courage. An emotionally powerful film, this is highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (T. Keogh)