'Being the Ricardos' goes beyond the black and white in looking back at 'I Love Lucy'

Presenting a far richer story than a simple biopic, "Being the Ricardos" turns writer-director Aaron Sorkin loose again on the medium of television and produces one of the year's most satisfying movies. That it was made for a streaming service, Amazon, is a wrinkle even the legendarily foresighted Desi Arnaz surely couldn't have imagined.

In a clever framing device, Sorkin builds the narrative around a "scary week" in the lives of Lucille Ball (Nicole Kidman) and her husband/co-star Arnaz (Javier Bardem), as filtered through the recollections of those who worked on their top-rated sitcom, "I Love Lucy." The film then uses that confined window to revisit the couple's courtship and how they conquered TV through a series of deftly constructed flashbacks.

The crises for the duo emerge on two fronts: An anonymous item from radio star Walter Winchell implying that Ball is a communist (there's an explanation, but not one that might satisfy red-baiting critics or nervous network executives); and tabloid photos of Arnaz with another woman, fueling Lucy's suspicions, despite his denials, about the philandering that would eventually break them apart.