Dear Mr. Brody

Synopsis

Director:
Keith Maitland
96 min, US, 2021

In January 1970, “hippie-millionaire” Michael Brody Jr., the 21-year-old heir to a margarine fortune, announced to the world that he would give away $25 million to anyone in need. But what at first appeared to be a magnanimous gesture of peace and love turned out to be far more complex. In this wildly entertaining stranger-than-fiction chronicle of Brody’s story, and the thousands of people who wrote pleading letters to him, award-winning director Keith Maitland (Tower) reveals a moving story of one man’s misguided attempts to change the world and a deeply resonant look at the desires, misfortunes, and dreams of Americans looking for help in troubled times. “Enlightening… poignant” (Indiewire) and “wonderfully strange, funny, and dark” (The Playlist), Dear Mr. Brody is “incredibly powerful… with an energetic visual style” (RogerEbert.com) and “offers a surprising statement on American hope, endurance, and goodwill” (The Hollywood Reporter).