Carter Haskins

Unspeakable Crime: The Killing of Jessica Chambers (2018)

May 2nd, 2023

Ends up being much more interesting than it seems in the first episode. It’s really difficult to find a line between the films themselves (or miniseries in this case) and the limitations placed on the creatives involved when assessing things like this. I can’t possibly imagine Berlinger has a solid livable income from his previous films alone so he can’t just make what he wants. I can only assume Oxygen hired him to make something and the 5 hour runtime in a miniseries format was a requirement, so it’s hard for me to sit back and criticize him for the faults in this series that are so clearly mandated by the network. 

All that being said, this story has a lot more to it than it seems on the surface and Berlinger does a great job of stepping back and letting everyone speak for themselves. As it has been noted by pretty much everyone else, it unfortunately seems like Berlinger’s aesthetic filmmaking prowess has disappeared since the digital age began, but that doesn’t keep his documentarian instincts from being pretty on point.