Great story, flawed storytelling
Very interesting, engaging story.That said, this is a labored, labored doc. The interviews are edited in such a way that they contain the irritating irrelevant details that the best modern docs edit out. The special agent in charge of the Wells case is particularly bad; there must be 20 minutes per episode of him describing the process of submitting search warrants to a judge or telling you which doors in a house he didn't open. The narration is irritating and overly dramatic, the filmmaker thrusts his personality into the film for no apparent reason other than to get his peyote bead gold star, and frankly, I wish this show, and many, many Netflix and true crime docs, would remember to include some information in between starkly lit 20 second interview clips and transitional shots of faded photographs.
Overall, these issues effect both my enjoyment of the film and my willingness to trust it. The overly sensational presentation and the obnoxious desperation to maintain a sense of suspense and mystery makes me question the doc's priorities: does it value impartiality and accuracy over entertainment value.
This show betrays faults in the state of modern documentary filmmaking at some points and faults in the direction at others, ultimately creating a product that, while based on a profoundly interesting story, drowns itself in obnoxious melodrama.
score 5/10
squirrelman 19 June 2018
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw4208332/14693
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