After The Fog of War and Standard Operating Procedure, famed documentarian Errol Morris returns to the lighter side with another film about quirky, driven people. As usual his concentration on an oddball personality also acts as an entrée to a broader, more significant issue—here, media sensationalism. The subject is Joyce McKinney, who became a celebrity in the British press in 1977 when she pursued a Salt Lake City man to England and either kidnapped or rescued him from his Mormon missionary duty. The pair went to an isolated house where he either a) was held prisoner, or b) enjoyed a consensual few days together (McKinney's claim) before returning to the Mormon fold. McKinney, a former Miss Wyoming with a coquettish air, was arrested and jailed until her arraignment, but smuggled messages out to the press and public. Afterward she fled the U.K. to avoid trial. Morris combines in-your-face graphics, archival stills, and footage (often shown on a cutout of an old-style TV set), along with interviews of McKinney, a pilot who was part of her original “gang,” two reporters from rival English tabloids, and a Mormon apostate—capping his portrait with a tale of another one of McKinney's obsessions. Like so many of Morris's documentaries, Tabloid manages to be simultaneously fascinating, whimsically humorous, and poignant. Highly recommended. (F. Swietek)
Tabloid
MPI, 88 min., R, DVD: $24.98, Nov. 1 Volume 26, Issue 6
Tabloid
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