Maria Bamford is a comedian loved by other comedians. She’s been on the precipice of major fame for quite some time, but never reached media omnipresence, and there’s a good reason why. “Paralyzed by Hope: The Maria Bamford Story” puts directors Judd Apatow and Neil Berkeley to work investigating the subject, getting to understand her particular ways on-stage and off, also examining her lifelong struggle with various mental disorders she’s battled with and turned into material for her act. There’s nobody quite like Maria Bamford, and the helmers know it, presenting a raw but hilarious portrait of a woman who’s navigated so much in her life, yet remains committed to being a performer. She’s also incredibly open with Apatow and Berkeley, willing to inspect the darkness she’s been trying to make sense of since she was a child, adding to a sensational documentary about a gifted performer. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com
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