KATE PLAYS CHRISTINE

A BIZARRE AND ultimately distasteful documentary detailing indie darling kate lyn Sheil preparing to play Christine Chubbuck — a depressed journalist who took her own life on live television in 1974. The first half, which shows the details Sheil selects to build her characterisation, is genuinely interesting. But in the second, which includes poorly shot scenes of Sheil playing Chubbuck in the moments before her death, the filmmakers attempt to use a real tragedy as flimsy scaffolding for an argument about the ethics. What they seem have missed is, given this project to play Chubbuck only exists for this documentary, they’re just as guilty of exploiting the suicide as the media and viewers they’re chastising.