“…it is a really good and interesting doc (despite the title)!” the publicist told me. I trusted her and was stunned with the honesty by a son about his father.
“Death and Taxes” turns out to be an examination of a fabulously wealthy family whose patriarch, Harvey L. Schien, made it into the top 1 percent of the richest in America. Schien attended Harvard Law School on the G-I Bill and ended up leading the Sony Corporation of America, the international division of Columbia Records, and later the U.S. division of SONY. He made hundreds of millions a year.
But he also had an obsession, especially during the last 20 years of his life. He wanted to avoid paying the death tax. And I agreed with him. It’s not fair. The money he earned was already taxed! Why tax it again when he died? His son, Justin Schien, takes on a compelling opposing argument.
Few of us will ever have this problem. The 40 percent inheritance tax only applies to those of us inheriting more than $13.61 million (the cap will be raised to $15 million in 2026).
But what strikes me is the intimate nature of the film. Justin, always interested in film, used his own footage of his exceptionally good-looking, wealthy family. He documents what growing up with a father obsessed with making money was like. He shows the progression of his mother’s eventual decision to leave his father so she could stay in New York City to dance – at an advanced age. How good was she?
Justin filmed the annual car ride he took with his father – this time, for the first time, without his mother. What did his dad have to say?
Justin Schien, now a filmmaker for 30 years, admits that when his dad finally died at age 80, he left him many things, including financial freedom. This has enabled him to pursue his own interests, like filmmaking, whether his films make a profit or not.
But living with his conservative father, who was always so sure about how things should go, left him with questions.
“What does it mean to live the American dream?
What kind of country do we want it to be?
America is falling short of its promises in so many ways.
I also want my kids to inherit a society that is not broken, where we live up to the promises that America holds for everyone. That is the legacy I want to leave behind.”
Justin’s sensitive study of his family is well worth watching. In the end, even though the rest of us may not be worrying about paying an inheritance tax, we do want to pass on what we have to our children. The surprising similarities, their problems and solutions, between your family and Schien’s, might be more numerous than you thought.
Credits
Director: Justin Schein
Co-Director: Robert Edwards
Producers: Justin Schein, Robert Edwards and Yael Melamede
Cinematographer: Justin Schein
Editors: Purcell Carson and Brian Redondo
Graphics: David Mester
Animation: Roberto Biadi
Composer: Bobby Johnston
Released: July 18, 2025 (limited)
Website and how to view: https://www.deathandtaxesfilm.com/
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