Tabloid (2010)

Director:  Errol Morris


In The Thin Blue Line Errol Morris investigates a truth and finds out that it is actually a false truth. In that film the truth was found, but in his newest film Tabloid, Morris knows that the truth will never be known, and so he uses that to have a lot of fun. The story is completely fascinating and bizarre in its own right, and if you had never heard of the "sex-in-chains" story in which a woman (possibly) kidnaps a mormon and rapes him for three days, then you will be even more fascinated by the trajectory of how far Joyce McKinney's obsessive love story goes. 

Showing how the truth is subjective by the cutting between different stories is not the most original thing, but Morris uses it with such a great story and also a truly eccentric character in McKinney. Truth is highly elusive sometimes, and things can get even more complicated with time. There's also some added subtext considering this film is a documentary and not a fictionalized account. This is one of those stories that is too crazy to be made up, and if it was in a fictional film you would expect some sort of reveal or something at the end, but in this we never really find out anything about the truth. It's a movie that has all the trappings of a crazy scripted story, but without the usual gift-wrapped ending. 


There's also the case of the title, and I think Morris does a great job, especially in the second half, of highlighting tabloid culture and the lengths they will go to get juicy information. Tabloid doesn't reveal anything that I hadn't known before, but the fact that it looks at tabloid journalism, and the pursuit of truth, through this wonderfully wacky and bizarre story makes it a film that no one will be bored by. 


Grade: B+