A 10-Year Odyssey: The Most Unknowable Thing

Homer had it easy. In Mary Patierno's The Most Unknowable Thing, there are intimate revelations, a wedding, funerals, jaw-dropping twists of fate, the joy and challenges of parenthood, sibling rivalry, loves lost and found -- and all in one family, all captured in 57 minutes.

Filmed in Austin, where Patierno's brother David and his lover Carlos were living, The Most Unknowable Thing was originally envisioned as a three-year project. The documentarian knew the endeavor could potentially be emotionally challenging, but Patierno hadn't imagined the Homeric proportions her brother's story would take on.

"I started the film in 1989," she says. "It was supposed to be about my brother and Carlos living with AIDS. But then, the story just took on a life of its own."

"The story" changed when Carlos and David's relationship ended and David decided to marry a woman. Those were just two of the hairpin turn of events that would happen in the 10-year odyssey toward The Most Unknowable Thing. Revealing any more of the film's real-life drama would, as Patierno says, simply not sound real.

After each new development, Patierno explains, "I continuously thought the film was finished. But I wouldn't tell people about it. It didn't sound real. I actually felt like I had a bad soap opera," she says. "Over the years, when I wasn't working on it, I showed clips to filmmaker friends, who said, 'you have to do something with this. You've got an amazing story.' But it was a challenge. How do you tell the story without being maudlin or sensational?"

Patierno shot her documentary on 16mm over five years, then shelved it for another six. She completed the work in 1999, transferring it to videotape, which (along with the hairstyles and clothing) explains its dated look. Still, the story is nothing short of astonishing. Juxtaposed with David's story is the portrait of a family that learns about the profound possibilities of love, and of the capacity to love beyond expectations.

"I learned so much about life during that time," Patierno says. "Doing a film that made me have to revisit those events made me stronger. I learned about life and death, and I'm more serene about both." -- Belinda Acosta

The Most Unknowable Thing screens Saturday, Aug. 24, 2pm.