Casting JonBenét

Casting JonBenét, my favorite film at this year's Sundance, shows a director in full control.

This isn’t really a film in search of a definitive truth – it’s a deliberate provocation to the conventional notion of truth in the age of media frenzies over salacious crime.

When the concept really clicks, Casting JonBenet operates as a darkly entertaining look at how gossip can fuel legend to the point where truth loses its relevance.

Blending and bending genres to highlight the elusiveness of the truth, Green's avant-garde documentary presents the audience with a wealth of interviewees, each giving their own account of how the murder was reported.

The film ends on a strangely moving theatrical exercise, as the various performers gather together on a soundstage recreation of the Ramsey home to dramatize all the major theories in tandem, creating an overlapping spectacle of speculative horror.

A clever filmmaking experiment? Without a doubt. A satisfying one? Not so much.

Though a thoughtful reflection is occasionally allowed — sometimes humanity finds its way out — this indulgent, stylized slog is straight out of a well-worn aren’t-people-weird-and-awful playbook.

Casting Jonbenet has a great ending. I was shocked by the hidden meaning of the movie very well done .

Ambicioso, porém desinteressante e fraco. Só.

Boring and loosely executed. A minute you think it's getting interesting when they jump to the casting tapes. I couldn't get past the first 40 minutes and I think a vast majority of the audience will ultimately feel the same. The case itself is interesting but the depth within the case itself seems to take a backseat at times for the stories of the casting people themselves. Watchable, I think.. but I couldn't hold interest.