Thanks to Netflix, everyone is consuming documentaries en masse. All sorts of films that would never draw a big enough audience to justify a theatrical release, are suddenly getting a fair shake in the digital world. Think of a subject and there is a doc about it. Yet, despite all this diversity in subject, I haven't really seen that much variety in form. If a film is about an issue, it's a bunch of talking heads and graphics. If it's about a person it's an unending train of incidents with no shape. And of course there's the over-reliance on chyrons and talking heads. You will not find any of that in Actress. With its choice of subject and stylized photography, this movie comes out feeling like it could be a spiritual sibling to the David Lynch films Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire. Who would have thought that a film about a bit player from The Wire would yield so many interesting thoughts about femininity, relationships, the entertainment industry and the American Dream? A documentary can be anything you want. You just have to let it.
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