Becoming Cary Grant

The film has an interesting meditative pace and a kind of self-sufficient weight.

The man gets his due in Becoming Cary Grant, a moody jewel of a film that draws on Grant's unpublished autobiography for much of its narration.

Grant's story is striking by the breadth of the chasm between his wounded inner self and his seductive persona that was attentive, buoyant and up for anything.

The film, elusive and impressionistic, is at least somewhat successful in capturing that inner tumult.

Any documentary loaded with clips of Grant's work has half the battle won right there - few stars have ever appeared in nearly as many first-rate films as this actor did over the course of his 34-year career.

Even with a subject as great as Cary Grant, and a take on him that appears to have all its metaphysical Old Hollywood signifiers in place, "Becoming Cary Grant" is a murky and rather disappointing biographical portrait.

And so Becoming Cary Grant falls into that disappointing category of a documentary that, in wanting to do its subject a favor, actually does him a disservice.

The documentary adds to the mountain of information about Grant and brings us somewhat closer to understanding who he really was. But it's likely aspects of both Archie Leach and Cary Grant will remain an enigma forever.