In a week where we’ve lost both Cicely Tyson and Cloris Leachman, it feels like the right time to celebrate trailblazing actresses who are still earning awards love well into their eighties and nineties. On tap at Sundance in the U.S. Documentary Competition section is Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It. This exploration of her life and the profound influence she has had on so many is a rich, endearing journey that constitutes a truly delightful and energizing look at a remarkable actress who just last week earned her fourth consecutive Critics Choice nomination at the age of eighty-nine.
This film should work equally well for those intimately familiar with much of Moreno’s resumé as well as those who know her only from her signature film role that won her an Oscar, 1961’s West Side Story, or from the great TV work she’s still doing on the recently-wrapped One Day at a Time...
Moreno is so natural and vibrant in front of the camera, recalling important moments from her career with ease and reflecting on her choices with the wisdom to be able to critique herself and simultaneously defend why she had to do something. Taking on roles with exaggerated accents that did a disservice to minority communities in the film industry is one such regrettable trend, but she notes that it was the work she was getting, and she needed to work.
Moreno’s acting career is not the only thing covered in great detail here, as her prominence as an activist also gets to take center stage. She discusses her toxic relationship with Marlon Brando and her imperfect marriage with her late husband, Dr. Leonard Gordon. She opens up about sexual assault and is seen reacting to the live Senate hearing for Brett Kavanaugh with Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony. She delves into her heritage and the way in which she is now able to tell her own story by playing a character with her mother’s accent in One Day at a Time, rather than in a script written by someone without an understanding of her culture and experiences.
Moreno’s impact on Hollywood is felt most in the sincere praise offered up by the many interview subjects in the film, which include Lin-Manuel Miranda, Gloria Estefan, Eva Longoria, Hector Elizondo, Justina Machado, Morgan Freeman, and Norman Lear. Watching how Steven Spielberg looks at her and treats her with reverence and the excitement Edward James Olmos feels getting to be in her presence underlines how impressive this woman and all she’s done truly are.
The opening shot of the film finds her preparing for her eighty-seventh birthday party and expressing that she’s not a real celebrity because, if she was, she would have someone else doing the grunt work for her. On top of everything, she’s remarkably humble, and that’s a big part of what makes this chronicle of her life and career so pleasant and watchable.