An Inheritance of Questions, Not Just Wealth

Read Time:4 Minute, 57 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
Death & Taxes
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Genre: Documentary
Year Released: 2024, 2025
Runtime: 1h 25m
Director(s): Justin Schein
Where to Watch: opens July 18, 2025, at IFC Center in New York City and July 25 at Laemmle Theaters in Los Angeles

RAVING REVIEW: With a title like DEATH & TAXES, it's easy to expect something technical and rigid. But what filmmaker Justin Schein delivers is far more intimate—and far more revealing. What begins as a documentary about estate taxes evolves into a deeply personal reckoning with legacy, inequality, and the hard-to-swallow truths that often lie at the heart of American wealth. Schein turns the lens on his own family, and in particular, his late father, Harvey Schein—a powerful and complex business executive whose lifelong obsession with keeping his fortune out of the IRS's grasp nearly tore their family apart.

Rather than delivering a textbook lesson on economic policy, the film crafts a living, breathing portrait of one family’s internal controversy—one that reflects the broader national divide. Whether you're inclined to view estate taxes as a necessary tool for fairness or an unjust penalty on success, DEATH & TAXES opens the door to understanding why this issue remains so controversial, even among those who benefit most from the current system.

Schein does not attempt to obscure his point of view, opening the film with a clear stance on the economic disparities he believes estate taxes can help address. But rather than pushing a specific agenda, his approach feels personal, born from lived experience rather than ideology. The focus gradually shifts from policy to something more intimate: the psychological weight of wealth, and how an obsession with preserving it can complicate relationships, redefine values, and, in the case of his father Harvey, shape a family's entire dynamic.

Harvey Schein, a self-made millionaire who rose from poverty in Depression-era Brooklyn to the top of corporate America, is presented here in full. He hasn’t been simplified into a villain or celebrated as a success story. Instead, we get the nuance: a man capable of brilliance and cruelty, charm and control, vision and narrow-mindedness. His accomplishments—leading Sony America through one of its most defining eras and challenging Universal and Disney in a Supreme Court case—are laid out clearly, but so are his flaws. In this sense, DEATH & TAXES becomes more than a film about policy—it becomes a film about people navigating what success means when it comes with strings attached.

That human angle is what ultimately gives the documentary its staying power. The film doesn’t just line up a parade of experts, though it certainly offers an impressive and balanced slate of experts who make persuasive cases for why estate taxes help level the playing field. At the same time, counterpoints argue that the conservative view is that taxing inheritance is a form of punishment for achievement. The inclusion of voices across the ideological spectrum ensures that DEATH & TAXES isn’t an echo chamber, but a forum for diverse perspectives.

Where the film excels most is in its ability to make policy personal. The archival footage of Harvey Schein—blunt, sharp-tongued, and unrelenting—is juxtaposed with the emotional reflections of his family. Joy Schein, his ex-wife, offers some of the film’s most tender moments, while Justin’s narration carries the vulnerability of a son trying to reconcile the man he loved with the ideas he opposed.

Technically, the film is polished, with a distinctive editing style by Purcell Carson and Brian Redondo that enables the footage from over 20 years to flow smoothly without dragging. The original score by Bobby Johnston adds just enough texture to underscore emotional beats without diverting attention from the story's focus. Thanks to the clear direction and visual style, the documentary avoids feeling like a stitched-together family video—it holds together with purpose and precision.

DEATH & TAXES doesn’t just inform—it provokes reflection. It asks viewers to examine not only the fairness of the system, but their place within it. For those born into wealth, it’s a mirror. For those shut out of opportunity, it’s a reminder of how much further we have to go. This film understands that discussing money—especially inherited money—is often taboo, and it leverages that discomfort to spark honest dialogue. In a political climate where debates around taxation are typically reduced to slogans, DEATH & TAXES dares to slow down, dig deeper, and expose the emotional roots behind an economic issue. That alone makes it well worth watching.

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[photo courtesy of SHADOWBOX FILMS, SALTY FEATURES, 8 ABOVE]

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