AllMovie

As toys go, marbles are about as simple as it gets -- a small, round ball of glass -- which may have something to do with their enduring popularity. Maybe video games and action figures have a higher media profile in the new millennium, but there are still plenty of folks who love marbles and aren't about to give them up, and filmmaker Mike Woolf examines the cheerful obsessions of a handful of marble loyalists in his short documentary Life Is Marbelous. The film includes a visit to the home of Cathy Runyan-Svacina, aka "The Marble Lady," whose abode houses one of the world's largest marble collections (over a million, not including an impressive display of marble memorabilia), and a look at the action at the National Marble Shooting Championship. Featuring music from Dale Watson, The Meat Purveyors, Andrea Perry, Carolyn Wonderland and others, Life is Marbelous was screened as part of the 2007 South by Southwest Film Festival.