“He said, ‘I did my book; you go do your movie,’” Brooks says. “It felt bad, but it was freeing. … It was the best thing he could’ve said to me.” With the Texas novelist’s curmudgeonly blessing, ...

A writer remembers bonding with her mother over the film’s unusual mix of sorrow and laughter, a blend that helped immeasurably through painful loss. By Dina Gachman Anyone who remembers the heft of a ...