We’ve had two documentaries this year that would border on “hero worship”: Life Itself, the Steve James-lensed Roger Ebert documentary and Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me. I say border because both these films ask a singular terrifying question of their subjects, and thus keep them from falling down the rabbit hole of adoration: when is it time to admit that you’ve lost your battle, be it age or health, and give up the thing that you love? Both are tough films to watch because you already know the outcome – Ebert passed away last year and Stritch died in July of 2014 – but both subjects are so charismatic and their lives were lived in such a complicated way, that it’s the honesty and brashness that keeps each of their respective documentaries from getting mired in sentimentality. Elaine Stritch is funny, witty, self-conscious, anxiety-ridden, and blunt – and that’s why we loved her so much. Thankfully, documentarian Chiemi Karasawa understood that about her subject, and produced a tight 81-minute documentary examining the life of a woman who very much deserved the attention.