American Murder: The Family Next Door (2020)
Some movies are great because of their performances, special effects, emotional impact, or message. American Murder: The Family Next Door is great because of the presentation. The murder at its center is not all that special. You can easily deduce what happened once presented with all the clues. It would've been little more than an episode of a generic true-crime show if it weren't for the way it's assembled.
On August 13, 2018, Shanann Watts arrived home after getting a ride from her friend Nicole Atkinson. Later that day, Atkinson, became concerned when Shanann failed to answer her calls. The mother and her two children Bella and Cathryn had disappeared. Police's suspicions immediately fell upon her husband, Chris.
This documentary by Jenny Popplewell - edited by Simon Barker - shapes this story using law enforcement footage, text messages, voice recordings, and home videos. It uses very little - if any - original footage. There are no interviews or talking heads. With the videos Shanann shot and her text messages, there was enough material for her to narrate her own story. Instead of hearing others tell us about what she was like until the six-month trip leading to the night when she arrived home, we see them for ourselves. By the end, you feel like you've met her.
The story is told non-linearly. It’s a way to get us hooked and then flesh out the mystery. In any other documentary, this technique would “spoil” the surprise but here, what the police will discover is obvious - it's in the title. Also because even Herlock Sholmes could tell what happened after five minutes of looking at the evidence. It’s so absurdly easy to decipher this would almost be a comedy if it wasn’t a real-life crime. The reality of it means it breaks your heart and makes you so mad you want to rally a mob and burn something down - a sentiment that's briefly (too briefly) discussed. In a post-investigation segment, the families discuss how people around the world scrutinized the videos, text messages, and reports we’ve just witnessed and drew the wrong conclusions from them. It stops you dead in your tracks and as you're getting ready to explore this thought, the film moves on. In every other way, “American Murder” feels like lightning was (tragically) captured in a bottle. This is the kind of story documentarians dream of, something like Senna or Amy where we had the right amount of footage combined with a story small enough that not everyone knows the facts but explosive enough to set the world aflame.
I’m not sure how much re-watch value American Murder: The Family Next Door holds. Once the mystery's been solved, what's there to look forward to? Then again, this particular case might not suffer so much from its audience knowing the end. You know what happened. The reason to watch is for the editing and the way its assembled, rather than the content. (October 18, 2020)
