Prodigal Sons

Harrowing and unforgettable film.

Prodigal Sons comes packed with multiple hooks. Aside from the sex-change angle, the movie takes a turn when Marc---whom Reed’s parents adopted before she was born--learns that he’s the biological son of Rebecca Welles, and the grandchild of Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth.

Sad, compelling documentary leaves a few key questions frustratingly unanswered, but the raw materials here are sufficiently bracing.

Even if Prodigal Sons is ultimately more buildup than payoff, Reed is a nimble enough filmmaker to roll with unexpected developments and make poignant connections between her family's unremarkable past and its extraordinary, wrenching present.

There’s still enough to chew on to recommend the movie, not least the oddly touching sight of two siblings whose very identities have been altered by surgery.

The unexpected directions in their family dynamics and unflinching scenes of the volatile Marc keep Prodigal Sons absorbing.

Instead of pushing deeper into any psychological dilemmas, this dirty-laundry doc gets lost in a sensationalistic flurry driven by a serious emotional unraveling.