Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with Grib's take on a really interesting sounding documentary called TV Junky. I'm hoping SXSW nabs this doc so I can take a look at it. Here's Grib with the details!
Hey, Harry,
Grib here with a review from Sundance of the new documentary "TV Junky," which is a one of a kind film that packs an emotional wallop. It is the story of former "Inside Edition" daredevil reporter Rick Kirkham, who collected over 3000 hours of video footage of his own life, starting at age 14. This obsession eventually led him to insist that he and his wife Tami tape all of their conversations with each other. During the long weeks he spent away from his family in LA and New York City working on "Inside Edition," Kirkham also taped himself snorting cocaine and crack; he went through rehab three times, eventually losing his job and several others thereafter. Co-directors Michael Cain and Matt Radecki (and a staff of editors) culled through every minute of Kirkham's footage and made an incredibly gripping, unflinching film that chronicles Kirkham's rise to the top of reality journalism and subsequent descent into the hell of addiction and paranoia that cost him everything. I will not give away the ending, as to do so would be to rob the film of some of its power. Aside from occasional onscreen titles, the film is told entirely through Kirkham's own footage.
In addition to its raw emotional power, this film is a marvel of editing. Kirkham's tapes were largely unlabeled and not chronological; the filmmakers never knew what they would see when they started watching a tape. Some of the most chilling footage comes when Kirkham addresses the camera alone, telling himself that he knows that crack is controlling him but knows he can't stop using it. In one scene, he leaves his son's first birthday party to go score some drugs; in another he admits to his wife that he is rolling loose change to pay off drug debts. One of the film's biggest surprises comes at the beginning, when the filmmakers tell us via onscreen titles that Kirkham never looked at a second of his own footage. When one tape was done, he just popped in a new one and plowed ahead.
Watch for this one. It's quite an experience.
