Director Ramin Bahrani, through clever editing and narration, brings great feeling to the crinkly little fellow. This pseudo-documentary goes all the way from the grocery-store "birth" of a plastic bag to its ultimate entombment on the seafloor.

Reborn in a landfill, the bag roams free to meet another bag--what story isn't about love? But the winds tear these bag-amours apart, as the bag wistfully notes in a German-accented voice (provided by famed director Werner Herzog), and it makes its way to the sea.

It's a really endearing film. I was not expecting to care about a tattered piece of plastic with handles, but by the end of it, I did. Rather a lot, actually -- if talking bags were sold as pets, I'd probably buy one.

There's no real mention of the impact of all these bags in the sea; the viewer is left to connect the dots. And emotional button-pushing is kept to a minimum, with perhaps one or two overly-poignant lines.

Efforts to ban plastic bags have surged of late, with per-sack taxes becoming law in some U.S. municipalities. By showing us the long timeline of one bag, this film—part of an ITVS "FutureStates" series of short films—reminds us that it's time to think harder about the consequences of our environmental actions.

And, really--what's not to love about a film about a plastic bag?

For those readers who'd like a short take on the movie, here goes:

Why We Care: It's shocking to realize just how long these crinkly harbingers of envirodoom can persist in the open air.

Best Part: Watching a plastic bag learn how to fly.

Memorable Quote: "They told me it's out there ... the Pacific Vortex. Paradise!" -- a plastic bag, speaking of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

You can watch the entire Futurestates series online.  

-Chris Combs, National Geographic News, from South by Southwest in Austin, Texas

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