Men: A Love Story

Bulgarian-American filmmaker Mimi Chakarova's documentary asks men across the United States how they feel about love. Her subjects vary in age and income, ranging from a fry cook to a hotel finance director with a garage full of Ferraris. She punctuates the four chapters in the film with phone messages from her neighbor, Elder Sanders, who checks in on her from time to time. In Death Valley, CA, Rock Novak, who teaches her how to shoot a flintlock rifle, tells her that if you "wanna get along good with a girl, be her friend." In Truth or Consequences, NM, Ty Mitchell, a chain-smoking cowboy with an eye patch, says he doesn't understand how anyone can fall out of love. "I still love every woman I was ever in love with," he says. Ben Gibson, a poetic oil worker in Midland, TX, talks about a breakup. "When it's gone, it's like the world loses color," he says, although he also acknowledges compulsive infidelity. Rogis Clark of Clarksdale, MS, the fry cook, is also haunted by a specific relationship. Other men talk about teenage weddings, second and third marriages, and divorces. Some claim to understand love, while others find it a complete mystery. Ethan Emery of Isleboro, ME, a thrice-married septuagenarian, sums things up by saying, "It's the driving force, it's everything." Instead of using home movies or photographs, Chakarova depicts past events with hand-drawn animated sequences, adding a dash of whimsy to a serious but never depressing documentary. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)