It was shocking how little information and insight this documentary series has. The perfect example is the Philip Seymour Hoffman episode. The most-interviewed person in this doc is his high school drama coach. By far. One or two obscure contemporary actors of PSH are freshly interviewed, and only a few are even shown in archive footage talking about him.
They spend an inordinate time talking about high school drama days and putting two teachers on camera . Seriously. They are presented as the chief authorities on what made PSH tick. No real close friends from New York are interviewed. Not a single family member. No friends from high school, either. Besides the high school drama teacher, the most-seen and heard experts on PSH are a movie critic from his hometown of Rochester and another critic from NYC. This is all the more puzzling because this documentary whispers not a single disparaging word about PSH.
He's a brilliant actor who is always being a good friend and mentor to fellow actors, he loves his mother and high school drama teacher, he's a devoted father ... and then, suddenly, he's dead from a drug overdose. Seriously. That's how they portray a shocking descent into massive abuse of heroin, booze, and other opioids after being clean for 20 years. He got back on drugs and was dead in less than two years.
There is ZERO insight or even discussion about how that happened - which would be an interesting thing to explore. Pretty much the only really interesting thing to explore. And despite the very gentle handling of his drug-induced death, and overall haigiographic tone, the producers couldn't get anyone close to PSH to speak on camera? Not even his old drama camp buddies or Labyrinth Theater friends who could obviously use the exposure?
Maybe all the people who could provide real insight into PSH stayed away because they knew what a hack documentary filmmaker looks like and didn't want to be a part of something so boring and pointless.
They spend an inordinate time talking about high school drama days and putting two teachers on camera . Seriously. They are presented as the chief authorities on what made PSH tick. No real close friends from New York are interviewed. Not a single family member. No friends from high school, either. Besides the high school drama teacher, the most-seen and heard experts on PSH are a movie critic from his hometown of Rochester and another critic from NYC. This is all the more puzzling because this documentary whispers not a single disparaging word about PSH.
He's a brilliant actor who is always being a good friend and mentor to fellow actors, he loves his mother and high school drama teacher, he's a devoted father ... and then, suddenly, he's dead from a drug overdose. Seriously. That's how they portray a shocking descent into massive abuse of heroin, booze, and other opioids after being clean for 20 years. He got back on drugs and was dead in less than two years.
There is ZERO insight or even discussion about how that happened - which would be an interesting thing to explore. Pretty much the only really interesting thing to explore. And despite the very gentle handling of his drug-induced death, and overall haigiographic tone, the producers couldn't get anyone close to PSH to speak on camera? Not even his old drama camp buddies or Labyrinth Theater friends who could obviously use the exposure?
Maybe all the people who could provide real insight into PSH stayed away because they knew what a hack documentary filmmaker looks like and didn't want to be a part of something so boring and pointless.
