Diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease and handed a five-year death sentence, then 34-year-old former New Orleans Saints defensive back Steve Gleason began a video diary for his unborn child. Not content to wallow in self pity, Gleason picks up where Jerry Lewis left off, working hard to find a cure and provide a better quality of life to those stricken with the insidious disease. The visuals are composed of footage shot by Geason and writer-director, J. Clay Tweel, and watching the former gridiron great slowly deteriorate before our eyes makes for gut-wrenching viewing. I’ve witnessed enough heartbreaking remote segments on Lewis’ one-time MDA Telethon not to be moved by its feature-length equivalent, but one can’t judge a movie based solely on good intentions and the amount of tears shed. As “triumph of the human spirit” documentary filmmaking goes, this won’t lose much on a TV viewing. (2016) — Scott Marks
This movie is not currently in theaters.