51 Birch Street

"Family dynamics is a funny thing," says filmmaker Doug Block as he turns the camera on his own family, and in particular his aging parents. When his lively, affectionate mother suddenly dies and his impassive father abruptly remarries (to his old secretary) and seems happy for the first time in decades, he finds a story he never expected and surprising answers to his sudden questions about his parents' marriage. Why should that interest us? Because, like the best of the recent wave of personal documentaries, "51 Birch Street" is both a compelling story and an eye-opening bit of social history. It upends assumptions about the generation that defined middle-class America in the 1950s and '60s and reveals the dreams, yearnings, compromises and inner lives of two people who kept their disappointments hidden away from their children out of love. The DVD features the follow-up featurette "Who Knew?", with the Block family's reaction to the film, and the "I Flunked Adultery" music video.