Playing for Keeps

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More About

• Kimberly Reed
• San Francisco State University

Kimberly Reed is one high school quarterback whose glory days didn’t climax the night of the homecoming game. The Montana native went on to blossom in the Bay Area, earning undergraduate (U.C. Berkeley) and graduate (San Francisco State) degrees in film, and transitioning from male to female. Take a second to imagine what Reed’s high school reunion was like -- an event that provides the starting point for her multiple-award-winning documentary, Prodigal Sons. Actually, Reed’s main impetus for going home is reconnecting with her adopted older brother, an overweight fellow whose issues range from latent resentment to mental illness. The jealousies that fuel Prodigal Sons propel the siblings to track down Marc’s birth parents, sending the film ricocheting into the dark corridors of Hollywood history. Dredge up the usual clichés -- truth is stranger than fiction, you can’t make this stuff up -- and they all fit. Harrowing and entertaining, this whiplash doc heralds an exciting talent. If this were the sports section, the headline would read, “Reed Scores, Sons Rolls.”
March 5-11, 2010