I can understand why BookTok-to-besteller author Colleen Hoover wrote a book about a bestselling author. And I can understand why two of Hollywood’s most accomplished and talented actresses would want to produce and star in a book by a best-selling author with two juicy parts for women. But ooof, despite Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson doing their best, this movie is a dumb, dull, dud.

Let’s start with one of the most misbegotten meet-cutes in movie history. Movies love to have a fun situation bring two characters together for the first time. In “Verity,” Lowen (Johnson) is an author whose book-signing attracted only three people, one who left when she got a phone call. Her agent has set up an important meeting with a publisher and she wants to get there in time. She is almost there when suddenly, she is drenched in blood when a woman is hit by a car. A handsome bystander (Josh Hartnett) takes her into a bathroom to help her clean up and even gives her the literal shirt off his back. Somehow in this brief conversation, he tells her that his eight-year-old daughter was drowned in a lake and she responds, “My mother just died.”

Lowen rushes to the meeting, and can you guess who’s in the room? Yes, in a new shirt, the very same guy. He is Jeremy Crawford, the husband of wildly popular author Verity Crawford (Hathaway), whose books are, in the world of this film, unique because they are from the villain’s point of view. Verity was in a car accident and is unable to get her new book done in time for the deadline. The publisher is looking for an NDA-bound writer “of the same genre” to finish the book.

At first, Lowen says no. But Jeremy tells her that Verity loves Lowen’s book, and soon she is moving into the Crawford’s lavish country house in snowy Vermont, with architectural details along the roof making it look like a buzzsaw, as though it is an omen or something. Lowen meets the Crawford’s young son, Crew (these names!) and Verity’s nurse, Anna (Irina Dvorovenko). Verity is paralyzed and mute, unable to communicate. Lowen has to sort through all of the notes for the book on her own. She finds a hidden thumb drive that contains Verity’s memoir, with a disturbing description of her selfishness and neediness.

It gets more disturbing and Jeremy gets more intriguing and Lowen either thinks she sees Verity standing and looking at her or….

There are too many shots of people holding beverages. Parallels of hands being pricked and mouths being cut/bitten are not as meaningful as they intend. There are some very funny flashbacks as we see Verity at the height of her fame, interviews about her books with the media big three — Gayle King, Alex Cooper, and Sean Evans on “Hot Ones.” It’s turgid and it’s slow. Which is bad because it gives you more time to think about how unimaginative it is and wonder why a child who is supposed to be at least eight years old i is clearly younger, why Lowen always wears black nail polish and when it will be over so you can go home.

Parents should know that this movie has nudity and explicit sexual situations, graphic and disturbing images, very strong language, reference to suicide, murder, drinking, pills, and smoking.

Family discussion: What would this movie be like if it was presented as the villain’s point of view? What made Verity’s books so popular? What will happen next?

If you like this, try: Colleen Hoover’s book and the other movies based on her books, “It Ends With Us” and “Regretting You.”

Two former military, both with some PTSD, camp out in the Alaska wilderness. One is James (Brad Pitt), a retired special forces soldier, and the other is a scout dog named Odin, who was injured in action and now has titanium teeth and a prosthetic leg. “The Heart of the Beast” is the term for the area, for its distance from the trappings of civilzation in mileage and difficulty, but it is also a reference to the two souls who would prefer to maintain that distance.

While trying to navigate through a storm, James has a heart attack and crashes his plane. They have to traverse 58 treacherous miles on foot, and this is the story of that journey.

Director of Photography Mauro Fioe (“Avatar,” “Training Day”) shows us both the pristine beauty of the stunning landscape and the ominous danger for even the hardiest of visitors. (For this film, the part of Alaska is being taken by understudy New Zealand, authenticity overtaken by economics.) We can see why James feels happiest there, away from the humanity that created his trauma and the humanity who can never understand what he experienced. He gets to use the skills that kept him alive in a combat zone for a peaceful purpose, just quietly experiencing the wonders of nature. Brief flashbacks to the chaos of combat show us how devastating that experience was for both James and Odin.

The film is bookended with brief scenes featuring the wonderful Anna Lambe of “North of North.” But James has just one encounter with a human, J.K. Simmons as Watkins, a gruff but gracious man very familiar with the area who tells James he has never seen anyone else in “the heart of the beast.” Pitt shows us the sharp contrast between James’ loving interactions with Odin and his awkward reserve with another human, at first not even giving Watkins his name, and than, reluctantly, just his first name. They sit by the fire together, drinking James’ Belgian ale, and Watkins talks about his own life and asks questions not about James but about Odin, to help James open up a bit. As he promises, he is gone before James and Odin wake up the next morning, but he leaves behind a book, highlighting a quote he thinks James will appreciate: “He had survived the worst the world could do to him. He had known the cruelty of man, yet he lives… and the love of man had taken root in his heart.” (The quote is not from a book; it was written for the movie by screenwriter Cameron Alexander. This screenplay, his first filmed feature, was selected from “The Black List,” a high-profile collection of curated quality scripts.)

Each part of the journey brings different dangers, and each tells us something about James and Odin. We see that Odin is important to James because of his courage and sacrifice, because of the loyalty of those who have shared time in battle, and also because James may not be ready to interact with people, but caring for another creature gives him a sense of purpose and accomplisment. Pitt is superb in performance where he is the only human on screen for most of the film. We see James’ skill in the way he evaulates and responds to an increasingly daunting series of challenges. This film may not be an advertisment for Special Forces training, but it may send some audience members to REI, as even after many of his supplies are lost, James somehow seems to have an endless Mary Poppins carpetbag of items he needs when things go badly. We see James’ joy in Odin, his resolve, his grace under pressure, and sometimes the anguish he tries to hide from his canine family. Pitt is terrific with Odin (played by a dog named Uber), making us feel their deep connection. And Odin is up there with Rin Tin Tin and Lassie in his daring and devotion.

Parents should know that this is a story of extreme peril involving falls, a heart attack, a bear, wolves, a plane crash, and near-drowning. There is a very sad death. James uses strong language.

Family discussion: Why was Odin so important to James? What were the most important items James had with him in case of emergency?

If you like this, try: “Megan Levey,” based on the true story of a young Marine corporal and her military combat dog 

“Forgotten Island” is a colorful story about friendship and memory, inspired by Filipino folklore. Jo and Raissa meet as children in the waiting area for the principal’s office. They are very different, Jo (H.E.R.), a fierce, impulsive chaos agent and Raissa (Liza Soberano), deliberate, thoughtful, and academically-oriented. Jo lives with her beloved grandmother, Lola (Dolly De Leon) but feels abandoned by her parents, who have moved to the US. Raissa has a more comfortable life with devoted parents. But they have something in common, a passion for Lola’s stories about visiting the magical island of Nakali through a portal from an enchanted sun dollar.

They have both been sent to the principal’s office for getting in trouble in the classroom by insisting that Nakali is real. But they decide not to wait, leaving behind a post-it note that simply says BRB (Be Right Back), and pledge to be best friends forever, exchanging string friendship bracelets. In a charming and joyous montage, we see their adventures as they grow up, including accidentally driving a bus to the beach where it gets stuck in the sand and becomes something of a clubhouse/art project. Many special memories get added to that friendship bracelet, and many more BRB notes are left behind. And then, as the girls are near high school graduation, we see them with Lola in a hospital bed hooked up to monitors, and then she is gone.

Jo is working (and sometimes getting fired) in fast food restaurants and Raissa is getting ready to go to America to attend Caltech. The night before Raissa is to leave, Jo persuades her to go on one last adventure. They discover an enchanged sand dollar and soon they are transported to Nakali. They wake up the next morning with no memory of what happened the night before and find that the sand dollar is missing so there is no way for them to get home in time for Raissa’s flight to California. They try to figure out how Raissa lost one whole side of her hair and how she got wings. Jo is wearing a jeweled crown but has no idea where it is from. And both girls and a strange new companion named Raww (Dave Franco) have some angry-looking, possibly infected tattoos that read: Wild Pack.

They meet a series of magical creatures. Raww is a were-dog who sometimes assumes full dog form, sometimes almost turns back into a boy, and most times is a bit of both. Batiba (Jenny Slate) is an agoraphobic cave-dweller who collects the memories of visitors to the island and keeps them for herself. Merhman (Manny Jacinto) is a preening mer-man, Bungi is a 200-year-old baby whose mother finally cuts his umbilical cord so he can travel with the group, and the Manananggal (Lea Salonga) is a fierce and angry winged creature whose upper and lower halfs can separate at the torso and operate independently.

As Jo and Raissa try to locate the sand dollar, remember the night before, and hold onto the memories of their past that Batiba wants for herself, the exciting and colorful adventures help them to understand their past and learn, sometimes painfully, how to be better friends.

The Filipino folklore contributes new characters that in the Joseph Campbell or Jungian sense each represent parts of an integrated human spirit, all the parts that make up the id, ego, and superego. The visuals are dynamic, with has great, strong, colors, some luminous, and imaginative and telling character design. The pacing is very energetic, sometimes overly so, as though worried about losing the attention of the hyped up of the TikTok generation. As is the current fashion (“Spider-Verse,” “KPop Demon Hunters,” etc.), moments of particular intensity of emotion or action switch to an exaggerated, flat, anime style, which may reduce the tension by adding some self-aware humor to reassure young audience members. There are some nice tributes to the pleasures of karaoke and some good pop songs (“Don’t Stop Believin'”, “Don’t You Forget About Me”) that fit the storyline. The discussion of memories is well handled, but what’s best is the relationship of the two heroines, very different in temperament and outlook but appreciating each other and the way their differences are a strength. A sweet concluding scene is more magical than even the most fanciful character.

Parents should know that this film has some disturbing material for a PG including scary images, peril, and violence (no one badly hurt), very risky behavior shown as fun and adventurous, as well as crude language, potty humor, and jokes about crotch hits and the “Predator” movie.

Family discussion: Who have been your best friends and what memories of your time together mean the most to you? Which is your favorite of the magical characters and why?

If you like this, try: “In Your Dreams”

Fall is usually when we begin to get more dramas, biographical films, and potential award nominees. But there are some likely blockbusters, festival favorites, and long-awaited sequels/prequels, too. Note: we have two movies with almost identical names, both action movies about saving a child. Don’t confuse “The Runner” (Gal Gadot) with “Runner” (Alan Ritchson and Owen Wilson) .

Here are some fall 2026 films we are looking forward to most:

September 2

“Katy Perry: The Lifetimes Tour – Live from Paris” The dynamic performer’s appearance in Paris brings you into the arena with more than 60 camera angles so we get a front-row seat to the music, choreography, wild costumes, and stage charisma as Perry explores her earliest hits and newest releases.

“The Runner” Gal Gadot stars in a tense action story about a lawyer out on a morning run who is notified that her son has been kidnapped and to get him back she needs to follow orders, tell no one, and keep running.

September 4

“Mayday” Ryan Reynolds is an American Air Force pilot on a secret missing crashes in the Soviet Union and Kenneth Branagh is a former KGB who wants to help him. (AppleTV+)

“Virginia Woolf’s Night & Day” In 1910 England, as the women’s sufferage movement is gaining momentum and causing controversy and science and technology are taking great leaps forward, a women wants to study astronomy. Stars include Haley Bennet, Lily Allen, and Jack Whitehall.

“By Any Means” In the 1960s a young Black FBI agent (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is sent to Mississippi to investigate a wave of brutal killings targeting civil rights leaders. He finds himself working with notorious mafia hitman Greg Scarpa (Mark Wahlberg). The cast also includes Nicole Beharie, Josh Lucas, Giancarlo Esposito, and David Straithairn.

September 11

“The Fix” Disillusioned by the end of the war in Afghanistan, a group of disgraced, war torn ex-CIA operators set out to Tehran to steal $25 million. The cast includes Liam Neeson and Zachary Levi.

“Practical Magic 2” Time to put the lime in the coconut again — Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman are back as the witchy Owens sisters, based on the sequel by Alice Hoffman. Can they finally break the family curse?

“Runner” The life of a little girl is at stake when a former solider (Alan Ritchson) has to make a crucial delivery of a new liver despite some very bad people who want to stop him. Owen Wilson co-stars.

September 18

“The Master and Margarita” Fifty years after it was first released, the savagely satiric cult classic novel about the Soviet Union by Mikhail Bulgakov comes to the screen.

“Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom” Our favorite barnyard crew is back! On Halloween Eve at Mossy Bottom Farm, the clumsy Farmer ruins the pumpkin patch. Shaun tries fixing it with science experiments, but things go wrong when a wild beast appears in the woods.

“The Musical” A middle school principal (Rob Lowe) wants a nice, safe choice for the school musical, so they will make it onto the Southern California Blue Ribbon Schools list. But the school drama teacher, angry because the principal is dating his ex, decides to do something very different.

“The Weight” Ethan Hawke plays a prisoner doing hard time and Russell Crowe plays the warden who offers him a chance at freedom if he can smuggle some gold.

September 25

“Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!” Oscar nominee Rinko Kikuchi, plays a competitive ballroom dancer who has to start over after the loss of her partner. This gets my vote for the most adorable trailer of the fall. 

“Primetime” Robert Pattinson plays “To Catch a Predator” host Chris Hanson, filming sting operations.

“The Incomer” Domhnall Gleeson and John Hannah star in the story of siblings who have been the only occupants of a Scottish island for their whole lives and are now about to be evicted.

“Unabomber” This is based on the true story of Ted Kaczynski, dubbed “UNABOM” by the FBI because the bombs he sent were directed at universities and airlines. Jacob Tremblay plays the promising math student turned recluse and domestic terrorist, Russell Crowe is his Harvard professor, and Shailene Woodley is the FBI agent on his trail.

“The Deputy” William H. Macy plays a sheriff who assigns a rookie to guard a dead body. When the body disappears, he teams up with a deputy (Tiffany Haddish) for an investigation that uncovers some dark secrets.

October 2

“Verity” Colleen Hoover’s novel about a writer hired to finish a book by a disabled author is brought to the screen with Dakota Johnson, Anne Hathaway, and Josh Hartnett, directed by Michael Showalter (“Hello, My Name is Doris,” “The Big Sick”).

“APPOFENIACS” A thriller about deepfakes and the people who explot them. “Appofenia,” by the way, means making connections between things that are unconnected in reality, interpreting random coincidences as something meaningful, usually threatening or foreboding.

“Digger” Tom Cruise in one of his most outrageous roles plays a balding, paunchy zillionaire who is behind an environmental disaster. John Goodman is the US President. This one looks wild.

October 9

“The Social Reckoning” Where “The Social Network” left off, “The Social Reckoning” continues the story of Facebook, this time focusing on the whistleblower, with Oscar-winner Mikey Madison as Frances Haugen, who revealed what the company knew and pretended not to know about the damage it was doing. Aaron Sorkin writes and directs and “Succession’s” Jeremy Strong plays Mark Zuckerberg.

“Animals” BFFs Ben Affleck and Matt Damon star in the story of a mayoral candidate whose son is kidnapped. Also in the cast: Gillian Anderson and Kerry Washington.

October 9

“Angel and the Badman” A wounded gunman (Zachary Levi) is cared for by a gentle woman, the daughter of a rancher in this remake of a John Wayne western.

“Double Trouble” Two young sisters visitng Las Vegas get entangled in the robbery of diamond gauntlet being loaned to a pop star.

“Matchbox: The Movie” Remember Matchbox cars? Jessica Biel and John Cena play childhood friends who learn that their toys are somehow the key to saving the world. Tne amazing cast include many of my favorites: Sam Richardson, Arturo Castro, Teyonah Parris, Corey Stoll, Bill Camp, Golshifteh Farahani and Danai Gurira.

“Tenzing” Most people remember Edmund Hillary as the first to reach the top of Mount Everest. Fewer know the story of the man who got him there, Tenzing Norgay. This is his story, starring Genden Phuntsok in the title role, with Tom Hiddleston as Hillary.

October 16

“Sense and Sensibility” The beloved Jane Austen classic about two devoted sisters, one who is led by her heart, one by her brain, has a new screen adaptation, starring Bodhi Rae Breathnach and Daisy Edgar-Jones.

“California Schemin'” This really happened. Two Scots pretended to be hip-hop artists from California even though they had never been to America. This led to a record deal and then a book and a documentary, and now James McAvoy directs and stars in a movie about it.

“Poetic License” Maude Apatow directs her mother, Leslie Mann, in a film about two friends who fall for an older woman. Co-stars are Cooper Hoffman (“Licorice Pizza”) and Andrew Barth Feldman (“No Hard Feelings”).

“The Only Living Pickpocket in New York” John Turturro plays the title character who has to retrieve an item stolen from some very scary bad guys.

“Musk” Oscar-winning documentary director Alex Gibney tells the story of the richest man on earth.

“Masterplan” Stanley Tucci stars in a heist film involving the Louvre and some family connections.

October 23

“Wildwood” I love LAIKA’s goregous stop-motion animation films and this story of a girl who has to go into the forest to rescue her kidnapped brother looks amazing.

“Klara and the Sun” Taika Waititi co-wrote and directs, based on a book by Nobel Prize-winner Kazuo Ishiguro. Jenna Ortega plays a robot “companion” who changes the lives of a family.

“Wicker” Oscar-winner Olivia Colman plays an unpopular woman in a small 18th century town who asks the local craftsman (Peter Dinklage) to create a husband for her — out of wicker. Alexander Skarsgård and Elizabeth Debicki co-star.

“Wife and Dog” Guy Ritchie directs, and the cast includes James Norton, Rosamund Pike,
Benedict Cumberbatch, and Anthony Hopkins, and Paddy Considine, in a story about a brutal family fight over succession.

“Fatherland” Based on a true story: At the height of the Cold War, the writer Thomas Mann (Hanns Zischler) and his daughter Erika (Sandra Hüller) take a road trip across a Germany in ruins.

November 6

“The Cat in the Hat” Bill Hader provides the voice in this animated story of the beloved Dr. Seuess character who creates chaos and hilarity wherever he goes.

“Jimmy” One of the biggest movie stars in history was also a hero of WWII and this is the story of his service. Jimmy Stewart is played by A.J. Apa (Archie in “Riverdale”).

November 13

“Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol” Johnny Depp takes on the role of the selfish miser who is visited by three ghosts on Christmas Eve, in Charles Dickens’ beloved story. Ian McKellen plays the chain-dragging Marley, “Severence’s” Trammel Tillman plays the merry Ghost of Christmas Present, Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley in the “Harry Potter” series) plays Bob Cratchit, and Sam Claflin plays my favorite character, Scrooge’s nephew, Fred.

“How to Rob a Bank” Bank robbers brag about their heists on social media. Law enforcement is determined to stop them. The cast includes Nicolas Hoult, Zoe Kravitz, Pete Davidson, and Christian Slater. Director and former stuntman David Leitch (“Bullet Train”) so you know this one will have cheeky humor and a lot of action.

“I Play Rocky” A week after we see the story of Jimmy Stewart’s wartime heroism, we have another fact-based story of an actor, this time Sylvester Stallone (Anthony Ippolito) insisting on starring in the title role of his screenplay about an unranked boxer punching sides of beef to prepare for taking on the champ (Stephan James as actor Carl Weathers).

November 18

“Madden” Christian Bale and Nicolas Cage star in the story of legendary football coach (and video game entrepreneur), John Madden, directed by David O. Russell (“Silver Linings Playbook”).

November 20

“The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping” The next chapter in the prequels to the Hunger Games series stars Ralph Feinnes, Elle Fanning, and Jesse Plemons, Kieran Culkin, and Maya Hawke.

“Paper Tiger” James Gray’s film has had a very positive response in festivals. It stars Adam Driver and his “Marriage Story” co-star Scarlett Johansson, along with Miles Teller, in a tense story about two brothers who get entangled in a dangerous Russian mafia scheme that terrorizes their family.

“Steps” We got the Wicked Witch of the West’s perspective on “The Wizard of Oz,” so why not take another look at Cinderella’s step-sisters? This animated film has a terrific voice cast including Amanda Seyfried, Daniel Radcliffe, Peter Dinklage, Stephanie Hsu, and — perfect choice — Bette Midler as the fairy godmother.

November 25

“Hexed” Disney’s big animated Thanksgiving release is a magical coming of age film about a girl (Hailee Stanfield) with magical powers sent to a magical land. Voices include Rashida Jones, Stephen Fry, and Tracey Ullman.

“Focker In-Law ” The “Meet the Parents” folks are back together to make all of our family gatherings feel normal by comparison. Now it’s Ben Stiller’s chance to show some concerns about his son’s girlfriend, played by Ariana Grande. Robert de Niro, Owen Wilson, and Teri Pollo return, joined by Skyler Gisondo and his “Booksmart” co-star Beanie Feldstein.

“Hershey” The man behind the chocolate bars and aluminum foil-wrapped kisses — who kept every employee on the job through the Depression and built a school for orphaned boys — gets a biopic. Finn Wittrock stars as Milton Hershey, with Alexandra Daddario as his wife, Kitty.

“The Adventures of Cliff Booth” Brad Pitt returns to his Oscar-winning “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” role of stunt man turned assistant to a movie star Cliff Booth in this prequel, with Timothy Olyphant returning to the role of James Stacy. Joining the cast: Elizabeth Debicki, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Pitt’s “Ocean 11” co-star Scott Caan. It’s written by Quentin Tarantino, directed by David Fincher.

One of the most unnerving twists of the year occurs about two-thirds of the way into “The Narcissist’s Playbook,” a documentary about people who are incapable of empathy and, because they do not feel love, compassion, tenderness, or joy, often inflict abuse on others to feel powerful or just to feel anything at all.

It begins with a telling perspective-shifting quote from someone we will spend a lot of time with over the course of the film, Sam Vaknin, the Israeli author of books including Malignant Self Love: Narcissism Revisited. He says that it is not the evil of the narcissist that fools us; it is our own humanity projecting onto everyone else the emotions that feel so essential to us we cannot imagine there is anyone who cannot care about other people.

It is not surprising that director Mark Vicente would be drawn to this subject. He became first an accolyte of NXIVM and its founder, Keith Raniere, and then a whistleblower who helped bring the organization and its leader down, including a criminal trial ending with a 120 year sentence.

Most people think of narcissists as egotists who are consumed with their own status and their own needs. This film uses the term to mean what in non-clinical terms we might call psychopaths or sociopaths or borderline personality disorder, people we think of as doing whatever makes them feel safe or powerful, no matter who gets hurt.

It is structured like a typical documentary, with a lot of talking heads — experts and survivors of relationships with narcissists from seven different countries. But some elements are unusual. Four of the experts are themselves, according to the film’s press materials, “self-confessed, self-aware malignant narcissists.”

Vaknin earns our sympathy and his own credibility right away, confessing that he went to prison for securities fraud, and he is now doing his best to educate others about what narcisissm is and how to protect ourselves.

We also hear from actress Evan Rachel Wood, who at 18 met punk rocker Marilyn Manson, then in his mid-30s. He quickly persuaded her to move in with him and then, she tells us, he isolated and abused her. It was only when she played a character on the HBO series “Westworld” that she located within herself the courage to leave him. (Manson denies her allegations.)

We learn from the academic experts that what Wood describes is typical of the narcissist, who begins by “love-bombing,” telling victims how special they are, how only he or she really sees and understands them, how much they need each other. It is “fast, intense, magical.” Step 2 is isolating the victim, separating them from their friends and family. Wood says, they want us to know “the only safe place is with them.” Next, they counter all of the building you up by tearing you down, first by devaluing you, destabilizing you so you try to regain that fast, intense, magical, and SAFE feeling again. And, when someone tries to leave or expose them, the accusations start. Non-narcisssist are looking for peace; narcissists live for chaos.

Step 4 will be familiar to anyone who has seen Ingrid Bergman’s Oscar-winning performance in “Gaslight.” You don’t have time to doubt the relationship because this step has you doubting yourself, even your own ability to discern reality. And then comes the discord, drama, distractions, and lies. Another victim describes his marriage, which followed exactly this pattern.

Those who have a hard time understanding people whose underestanding extends only to their own interests tend to look for causes, abusive families, past traumas. Their first impulse may be to try to be reassuring, to feel sorry for narcissists who say they do not know what it feels like to feel love or happiness and want to heal them. But, as one of the experts points out, many people experience abuse and trauma and do not become narcissists. We are told fairly early that a true crime investigative reporter is searching for a particular narcissist who has hurt many women by posing as a therapist, but we do not find out until much later who that person is and what he will do when he is exposed.

Anyone who watches this film will think of people who fit the pattern. And everyone who watches will come away prepared to recognize and block anyone who tries those tactics.

Parents should know that this film includes discussions of physical and emotional abuse and trauma with very strong language.

Family discussion: What did you learn from this film? What should people do to protect themselves from predators?

If you like this, try: the NXIVM documentary, “The Vow”