Review of Kate Plays Christine (2016) by Ian T — 12 Dec 2016

As one of two movies in 2016 dealing with the on-air suicide of newscaster Christine Chubbuck in July 1974, Kate Plays Christine takes the opposite approach to Antonio Campos's Christine. It's fascinating to see a film document the process of an actor getting into character and the mental toll that it takes on her, especially when the film refuses to focus on what can easily be sensationalized and romanticized within the story at hand.

It's an interesting exploration of the intersection of art and reality, but this is a documentary that seems to not trust its audience. Its directorial choices become distracting and the film feels increasingly false as a result, occasionally contradicting its own message.

The documentary follows actor Kate Lyn Sheil as she prepares to play Christine Chubbuck, a Florida news anchor that infamously committed suicide live on-air in the summer of 1974, a few weeks shy of her thirtieth birthday.

Kate attempts to replicate Christine's look and goes to Sarasota, Florida to get into her headspace, visiting places like a local bar that she went to and the gun store where she bought the revolver used to kill herself.

She talks to those in the community to discuss the legacy--or lack thereof--tied to the incident and finds Christine's old co-workers for some anecdotal information. There's a good amount of stuff that works here but mostly towards the first half as the movie becomes more and more misguided.

At first the film does a good job at illustrating its intentions without being excessive. We see Kate go about the transformation process both physically and emotionally in a way that doesn't feel intrusive and makes her intentions clear to the viewer.

Greene's direction includes some engaging editing choices that aren't seen too much, blurring scenes together, and has a good eye for what shots to get. But most of all, the film's central conceit--an actor's growing obsession with their work--is what sticks out.

The editing and context of some scenes make it unclear if it's Kate talking or Kate talking as Christine, and playing with the audience to illustrate the line between the real and the fake is interesting.

Where Kate Plays Christine falls apart is in the direction. The movie makes such a big deal about not wanting to reduce Christine Chubbuck to just her death, but we don't get any real explanation of her life besides one or two conversations.

She's almost always defined by her death, which is the exact attitude that the movie is condemning. Given that the film focuses almost all of its runtime on Kate, there isn't really enough room to explore who Christine was as a woman.

In addition to this, the presence of Robert Greene as a director increases and makes for an uneven and unsure final product. For example, there's one scene where Kate is shown swimming in the ocean wearing her Christine wig, which keeps coming off.

There's one point where she goes to get it back, but we hear Greene behind the camera saying, "Just let it sink," as he zooms in for a shot of the wig falling about two feet to the sand.

There are also several points where you can tell that Greene had to get reverse shots and multiple angles of a scene that would be impossible to get without interfering with those onscreen or asking for them to do something again.

Things like this make the movie feel less real. We also see clips of the film that Kate is starring in, but those do nothing but add a sense of cheesiness to the experience since what's being shown is melodramatic and cheap-looking.

Interviews with other actors in the film feel expendable and instead belong in a behind the scenes featurette of the film being made. The big issue, though, is the final scene. The film verbalizes its thought that we all saw this documentary just because we like to romanticize tragedy.

Not only is this a generalization, but it's an insulting generalization. To say that your audience only watches your work because they want to see the recreation of a suicide is cynical, and it doesn't help when you yourself have made Christine Chubbuck's suicide the most defining aspect of her existence.

The scene itself is also heavy-handed in execution. So although Kate Plays Christine has a lot to say and says some of it in interesting and even effective ways, it's a documentary that doesn't seem to trust itself and therefore contradicts its own rhetoric.

Greene's direction makes for something frustrating instead of insightful, and although the journey is interesting at points, in retrospect, it feels like this is a movie that was intent on trolling its audience.

6.4/10, okay, C+, average, etc.