In this well-done film, Author Genevieve Davis, uses all of her artistic talents to tell the story of her father's dysfunctional family; mainly the misadventures of her grandmother, Minnie, based on her book, SECRET LIFE/SECRET DEATH. Genevieve researched well the historical trail of Minnie's misadventure; her "Secret Life."

Using what she learned, Genevieve presents this poignant docudrama; a wonderful combination of voice over, interviews, creative film techniques, old pictures from the era and dramatized moments brought to life in a very artistic way that serves the story.

This artistic endeavor is an interesting trip through the history of Ms. Davis's father side of the family; an immigrant story that started off full of hope and promise. A married, newly immigrant couple set up a successful sewing and clothes altering business, in their new homeland; Wisconsin.

A lot of their customers were women. Uh Oh. Perhaps to deal with personal issues, Minnie's father turned to sex; showing a "weakness for the ladies" which resulted in being kicked out of the family house. Minnie's mother did take him back, but he turned to drinking instead. His children grew up with an alcoholic father. Trouble followed for his daughter, Minnie.

Minnie fell for a young man with a nice smile and friendly manners, hoping to marry him. He said the right words and Minnie became pregnant and the man went into hiding. She kept her baby, and endured an even more unhappy home life with her unforgiving father.

Apparently, she jumped into the frying pan into the fire, when she took up an offer for work in Chicago, believing everything an Italian boy friend told her. This choice started her "Secret Life."

This FILM would be an enhancement for studies in psychology that examine the effects of dysfunctional families,underworld Chicago:1920s', women studies and a class that studies how to use a variety of ways to tell a story on film. It may be a little long for some, but this personal, artistic docudrama is well worth the time.

Ms. Davis is a Wisconsin resident, artist, author and director. The book and movie, SECRET LIFE, SECRET DEATH, detail her investigation into family stories about her grandmother's history with the Chicago mob. Ms. Davis' artistic background greatly informed her approach to putting her grandmother's story on film. Her creative use of colors and shooting angles add to the story, resulting in an engaging film about an intriguing story. In particular, I like how Ms. Davis details her feet- on-the-ground approach to researching her family history, and flushing out new details about this sordid chapter. This movie is well worth your time to watch.

I was fortunate enough to be at a public showing of this film. A full house gave a very enthusiastic reception to this film and who could blame them. There was a wonderful artistic attention to detail that left the viewer feeling as though they had stepped back in time and gotten a glimpse into an era that needs to be remembered. The costuming and locations were part of the magic that made this film come to life. Genevieve's rapport with the cast members shown through in the work they displayed though out. Sure there were some imperfections but for a film done on a minimal budget they were far outweighed by the positives in this charming labor of love. When the director took questions from the audience they responded with a cascade of thoughtful perspectives and sincere inquiries. I give kudos to all involved. I would love to see more of her work!

While the promised story sounded fascinating it was a broken promise. What started off as unsubstantiated family stories, after the filmmaker's investigation, remained unsubstantiated family stories. No real proof was offered for anything and nothing was told to us that a general knowledge of history and common sense didn't already tell us, except for a few names of people who never did make it big in their particular field.

Couple that with constantly tilting, zooming, undulating motion of the camera on mostly impersonal historic still photos, surprisingly impersonal personal photos and lifeless re-enactments, it was one amateurish waste of time.

It did contain some great period music, but we did not need the entirety of several songs playing over the dizzying camera work without advancing the story in the least.

Over all it was 85 minutes of someone completely in love with a family legend that while sad and tragic, is really very commonplace in history and could have been told in full in about 7 minutes. And should have.