Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Tabloid

Exhibit A: In 1977, Joyce McKinney, a former pin-up model and Miss Wyoming winner, fell in love with Kirk Anderson, a conservative Mormon who, despite his strict religious upbringing, fell hard for McKinney. Weeks later, Anderson was ordered by his fellow Mormons to move to England, abandoning his ties with McKinney, and reaffirming his faith.  Days later, McKinney came to England, rescued Anderson, drove him to a cottage hundreds and miles away, and made passionate love to him for three days.  When the two returned to England, they soon learned that Anderson had been declared missing, so he turned himself in and was convinced by the Mormons to say McKinney had kidnapped and raped him.

Or.

Exhibit B: In 1977, Joyce McKinney, a former pin-up model and Miss Wyoming winner, fell in love with Kirk Anderson, a conservative Mormon who, despite his strict religious upbringing, fell into a mutual courtship with McKinney.  Weeks later, Anderson was sent on his Mission (a duty of all Mormons) to England, abandoning McKinney and reaffirming his faith.  Days later, McKinney came to England, kidnapped Anderson at gun point, drove him to a cottage hundreds of miles away, tied him to a bed, and forced him to have sex with her for three days.  When the two returned to England, Anderson turned himself in the minute he could and told police and his church that McKinney had kidnapped and raped him.

There’s a common maxim which states that there are three sides to every story: Yours, Theirs, and The Truth.  Exhibit A is, more or less, McKinney’s version of the events that made her a tabloid sensation.  Exhibit B is, more or less, the adverse spin on the story that we get from other principals involved. Who’s right?  Who’s wrong?  I’m not entirely sure. And this being an Errol Morris documentary, that isn’t really the point, anyway.

Errol Morris, who shares the title of best living documentarian with his mentor, Werner Herzog, never seeks to differentiate fact from fiction, truth from reality.  He gets subjects in front of a camera and lets them speak, often showing reenactments of their version of the story.  And, because people are people – meaning they remember and reflect the same event in different ways – Morris’s films often show many versions of the same story.

Are the people of Vernon, Florida really cutting off their limbs to cash in on their insurance policies?  Did Randall Adams really deserve to be on death row for the murder of a police officer?  (No, as The Thin Blue Line discovered, he did not, and he was later acquitted.)  Were the soldiers who tortured prisoners at Abu Ghraib really just following Standard Operating Procure?

To Morris, I believe, the truth isn’t as interesting as the reason.  We may not ever know why McKinney did what she did (Anderson wisely declined to be interviewed for the film) but that doesn’t mean that Tabloid isn’t one of the most entertaining documentaries you’re likely to see this year. On top of telling compelling stories, Morris is a master filmmaker.  He’s help shift the perception within the genre that documentaries can too be technically flawless, in addition to telling a striking story.

Tabloid wastes not one second of the viewer’s time. At 87 minutes, it’s paced swiftly while still making room for some lingering questions.  McKinney’s story (which she recorded for Morris during a single day) is incredible in and of itself.  But with a master behind the wheel, it becomes riveting. A-

7 comments:

  1. Because of Morris' inability to do an investigative piece, you have NO inkling of what happened in real life! Moreover Ms. McKinney, a virgin when she met her Mormon fiance, was never charged with "raping" a 300 pound Mormon, a fact which you (and Morris) seemed to have missed. And she was NEVER a "pin up girl". The woman in the black and white pin up was from an old movie. It was NOT Joyce--nor were the filthy photos of S&M hookers Joyce either. (Slow the film down and look closely!) Which shows how Errol Morris manipulated YOUR mind. Joyce is not "crazy" nor over sexed, as he tries to depict her in his twisted film. She is suing him for the pain this defamatory film has caused her and her family and may press criminal charges because of a valuable memorabilia collection and family home movies and baby pictures, which his sneaky producer stole out of her luggage under false pretenses that they were interviewing her for a "Showtime TV series about Paparazzi." Her mother was so traumatized, and tried to commit suicide over the trashy Porno Doc, and the return of the media in to their once quiet lives. The McKinneys were devout Christians and this has film caused them all severe emotional trauma and loss of privacy.

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  2. Because of Morris' inability to do an investigative piece, you have NO inkling of what happened in real life! Moreover Ms. McKinney, a virgin when she met her Mormon fiance, was never charged with "raping" a 300 pound Mormon, a fact which you (and Morris) seemed to have missed. And she was NEVER a "pin up girl". The woman in the black and white pin up was from an old movie. It was NOT Joyce--nor were the filthy photos of S&M hookers Joyce either. (Slow the film down and look closely!) Which shows how Errol Morris manipulated YOUR mind. Joyce is not "crazy" nor over sexed, as he tries to depict her in his twisted film. She is suing him for the pain this defamatory film has caused her and her family and may press criminal charges because of a valuable memorabilia collection and family home movies and baby pictures, which his sneaky producer stole out of her luggage under false pretenses that they were interviewing her for a "Showtime TV series about Paparazzi." Her mother was so traumatized, and tried to commit suicide over the trashy Porno Doc, and the return of the media in to their once quiet lives. The McKinneys were devout Christians and this has film caused them all severe emotional trauma and loss of privacy.

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  3. Wow, everything you bring up is genuinely intriguing.

    If what you say is true, it seems like Joyce McKinney is FURIOUS about the film. If so, why not speak out against it? Why haven't the press reported her lawsuit? Or is she hoping that silence will make the whole thing go away faster (this can sometimes be true, but an undoubted Oscar nomination is headed Mr. Morris's way, so the film ain't going anywhere).

    Sorry you took issue with the review. But it seems like you're only upset with my plot description, which is an accurate representation of what the film shows us.

    So, did Morris really manipulate my mind? I have no idea, but I'm really curious to find out if this film is total BS.

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  4. Looks like she is striking back:

    http://www.avclub.com/articles/when-documentary-subjects-strike-back,59239/

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  5. "As for the lengthy comments left on many blog posts and articles about the film—claiming libel, slander, that Morris is being sued for millions of dollars and that the whole project is funded by a Mormon conspiracy—there’s no easy way to tell whether they came from McKinney as well, but given how many of them exhort the writers to call her manager to get her side of the story, it seems fair to assume they at least came from an associate of hers."

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  6. similar comments (nearly word for word) are popping up on reviews all over the web. clearly this bimbo has too much time on her hands. or she can afford a bunch of assistants to write comments for her.

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  7. If you're going to sue, then why haven't you yet? What benefit or satisfaction do you get from threatening movie bloggers?

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