Quick preface: I am a big fan of True Crime Documentaries: American Justice, City Confidential and Cold Case Files are a few of my favorite television shows. I?ve also seen a good number of full length true crime documentary films. The True Crime Documentary genre (as far as I can tell) isn?t a glamorous one ? Most
consist of a narrator walking the viewer through each crime?s facts with the aid of interviews (almost always by people close to the crime), stock or actual case photographs/film and low-budget reenactments. Being visually ?wowed? isn?t the expectation you anticipate when popping one of these movies in to your player. I?ll also add that previous to watching Bazaar Bizarre, I had (somehow) never even heard of Bob Berdella. I had seen James Ellroy in some other documentaries regarding his novel, The Black Dahlia and I will admit that I didn?t care for his style of relating facts in that case. All that being said, Bazaar Bizarre is, by far, the worst documentary that I have ever seen, in the True Crime genre or otherwise. And I don?t mean that in a So-bad-it?s-actually-brilliant sort of way. In fact, within the first 15 minutes of this film, I actually had to Wikipedia Bob Berdella just to make sure that I hadn?t been duped by a poorly produced mockumentary. Bazaar Bizarre is chocked full of lackluster and often overly opinionated interviews. I was repeatedly confused by the people being interviewed: were they qualified as close to Bob Berdella and his crimes or were they simply random Kansas citizens shocked by the crimes committed in their community. Even the interviews with actual victims were lacking? something. There was some footage from an old interview with Bob Berdella which was intriguing; unfortunately it was too short to glean any real clues about Berdella?s background, mindset or reasoning. The reenactments, which I can only assume are bordering the realm of fiction (note the ridiculous Finger Soup scene), are so over-the-top they cease being the graphic images the director seemed to be going for and simply became laughable? only not funny enough to actually laugh. James Ellroy is presented as host, but he didn?t come across as the host to me. He actually seemed more like an interviewee prone to these prattle. As I mentioned before, I?ve seen other interviews with Mr. Ellroy and although I?m sure he spends plenty of time researching true crimes for his novels ? I have to wonder if his flowery interview style isn?t somehow influence by the fiction he writes. Also, in other interviews I?ve seen, Mr. Ellroy has given me the impression that he?s trying to present himself as a man on the verge of becoming a serial killer himself. That impression is not lost on Bazaar Bizarre ? In his opening monologue, Mr. Ellroy seems to relish describing the sexual gratification felt by serial killers. It?s bizarre, to say the least. Another odd part of Bazaar Bizarre is the band that performs a number of music videos complete with costume changes and, at one point, a demon back-up dancer. Granted the songs are about Bob Berdella, but -aside from adding at least a half an hour of film time- contributes little else. In fact, the somewhat humorous ditties are actually jarring against the otherwise serious tone of the rest of the film. Undoubtedly the most bizarre part of this already super strange little film is the very end when the director decided to go for the ever popular ?Bloopers and Gags? credit roll. This included people who misspoke humorously during interviews and some shenanigans the actors got into while filming the sexually violent and sadistic reenactments. It was truly a surreal way to end this film. Overall, Bazaar Bizarre seems like something a group of mediocre albeit disturbed high school film students might produce right before donning trench coats and shooting up their school. It?s only worth watching if you already have a thing for Bob Berdella or James Ellroy and even then I would be wary.
April 6, 2009
