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The filmmaker Penny Lane has always managed to find something novel in her documentaries,

not just the subject but the approach she takes.

Like the appeal of Satanism, the appeal of Kenny G, a story about Richard Nixon told through Super 8 home movies.

In her latest, she gives her kidney to a stranger. And let me just let that

sink in for a second. Penny gave one of her kidneys to a complete stranger. This is a thing,

of course. They're called non-directed living donors or altruistic donors. And it's important to say

she didn't do it as a stunt.

This was something she had planned long before the film,

but the process and the questions it all raises are kind of perfect for a documentary.

Like the part Penny describes as the decision point.

You could say, I'm going to give my kidney to a stranger.

I don't know who yet, but I'm going to pick someone.

And there's ways to do that.

Like there are entire websites where people who need kidneys kind of register

and they create kind of like a social network style profile.

And then you could sort of pick someone off that list. Yeah. and they create kind of like a social network style profile.

And then you could sort of pick someone off that list.

The idea of scrolling through the profiles and saying who is most deserving of this gift of my kidney, I presume a lot of that is that you want to control the

unknown. You want to be able to feel confident that the person that's received your kidney is like

someone that you think of as a good person. I guess I do understand that, but I don't even have a therapist

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