Excellent performances give weight toCinema Verite, a fictionalized behind-the-scenes look at the making of the mother of all reality television,An American Family. Producer Craig Gilbert (played here byThe Sopranos' James Gandolfini) wants to document middle-class life the way anthropologists examine primitive cultures. With a blend of seduction, flattery, and burning vision, he persuades Pat and Bill Loud (Diane Lane and Tim Robbins) to let a camera crew capture their family's daily life for months--an act that may not have caused the family's implosion, but certainly accelerated it.Cinema Verite's script feels awkwardly compressed, trying to squeeze months of filming and finagling into a 90-minute story, and the suggested intimacy between Pat and Craig is questionable. But the actors pack a lot of confusion, doubt, regret, and a myriad of other emotions into their concentrated scenes. The movie revolves around Pat, and Lane does her justice, but Robbins and Gandolfini give performances just as strong, playing much less sympathetic personalities. Thomas Dekker is also good as the eldest son Lance, the first openly gay man on television. Glimpses of the real footage and the real Loud family are tantalizing and will make one want to watch the original documentary; regrettably, as of 2011, it's unavailable.--Bret Fetzer