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"Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You"

Documentary Premieres

*** 1/2 (three and a half stars)

Norman Lear's long career — both as a pioneering TV producer and a stalwart First Amendment crusader — is so fascinating, it's a surprise nobody put it into a documentary before the creative and lively PBS-bound film "Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You." Lear, who's 93 and as sharp as ever, tells most of his story himself, from his childhood with a morally shady father through his World War II service. The main focus is on his taboo-breaking sitcoms (namely "All in the Family," "Maude," "Good Times" and "The Jeffersons") and the struggles with the network to get storylines about racism, sexism, abortion, poverty and other issues on the air. Directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady ("Jesus Camp," "12th and Delaware") pull off a cool conceit, with a child actor as Lear to embody his youthful attitude, that adds an artful spin to the usual interview and archive material.

— Sean P. Means

"Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You" screens again at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival: Today, 8:30 a.m., The MARC, Park City; Tonight, 6:15 p.m., The Grand, Salt Lake City; Monday, 6:30 p.m., Peery's Egyptian Theatre, Ogden; Saturday, Jan. 30, 6 p.m., Redstone Cinemas 7, Park City.