At 33 minutes, Lori Benson’s documentary, "Dear Talula," is richer and more emotionally charged than many feature-length films. The autobiographical short takes an intimate look at Lori, a 37-year-old woman in New York City who, just 14 months after the birth of her first child, discovers she has breast cancer.

Blindsiding Lori—an otherwise healthy woman just getting used to her role as mom—she must cope with the reality of cancer as it "fills up" her life. "Things shift" is how one friend puts it, and Lori can't remember what life was like before. But she refuses to accept her diagnosis passively; she doesn't ask “Why me?" and we don't even see her cry.

First, we see her get her hair done.

Before her mastectomy surgery, Lori splurges on beauty treatments and shops for lingerie, explaining her impulse to feel some sense of control (of her femininity?) before she must surrender to the scalpel. Later, during chemotherapy treatments and still fiercely in "warrior" mode, Lori devotes herself to exploring an almost comical array of alternative treatments and holistic remedies.

But when she takes her bag of herbal goodies to her oncologist to examine, the doctor tells her that none of it is any match for cancer. Lori accepts this with resigned good humor and perhaps not a little relief. This is a story about letting go—of Lori’s idea of herself as a healthy person, of her breast and what losing it means to her as a woman, of believing she can cure herself.

Things shift for Talula, too. In one wrenching scene after her surgery, Lori attempts to nurse, but Talula reaches for the breast that is gone, and despite Lori's attempts to reposition her, won't accept the other one. As a family member carries the distraught infant away, we see Lori break down for the first time.

Lori is also concerned about Talula's own future risk of breast cancer—another thing she cannot control. She decides the best thing she can do for her daughter is to show her "the beauty of life." She achieves this, in the film, at least, by sharing her story with unflinching courage and grace.

This is no "Terms of Endearment"—your heart dips into your gut from time to time, but you don't leave the theater devastated. Instead, "Dear Talula" will move and inspire anyone familiar with the way life can confront us with unwelcome surprises—something from which none of us are immune. -- By Lisa Schneider