Afflicted since childhood with cystic fibrosis, Bob Flanagan fought pain with pain, using whips, chains and stranger implements to push his body to alarming lengths. Sometimes he did it on stage, mutilating his body for art's sake. Kirby Dick's sensitive, shockingly funny portrait includes frank interviews with Flanagan and his partner Sheree Rose, footage from their legendary performances (before his death at age 42, Flanagan became a hero of avant-garde theater) and a haunting, harrowing finale. An undeniable masterpiece, Sick operates simultaneously as a love story, biography and performance video, and as proof that spirituality is in the eye of the beholder. Flanagan remains one of cinema's most compelling characters, and Dick tells the story with a mixture of toughness and sensitivity. We won't kid you: Sick is not for the queasy. Then again, neither is life. (JS)

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