Television

Standard Of Review: Not To Jinx It, But The Jinx Is An Excellent Documentary Series

Hopefully, Serial and The Jinx will begin a trend of smart, long-form stories exploring crime and/or the legal process, not to jinx it of course (pun unquestionably intended).

By  
on

Back in December, I wrote about the hit podcast Serial, an in-depth exploration of a true-crime murder case that swept the nation during the fall (though, to my chagrin, cereal-mania has not swept the nation this winter — unfortunately, the Internet is not full of think pieces regarding Lucky the Leprechaun). As a Serial fan, I was happy to learn that HBO was releasing The Jinx, a six-episode documentary series exploring the alleged crimes and the prosecution of Robert Durst, the scion of an incredibly wealthy New York family and real estate empire who had been accused of, but never convicted, of three separate murders (and, sadly, is not related to Limp Bizkit frontman and red hat aficionado Fred Durst).

The Jinx opens with the 2001 murder and dismemberment of Morris Black, an elderly man living in Galveston, Texas. The police soon suspect Durst, who — desperate to escape media scrutiny — had moved to Galveston and was living in Black’s building. The narrative then goes back in time and spends two episodes exploring how Durst was a person of interest in two other murders. First, his wife Kathleen Durst disappeared in 1982, and even though her body was never found, Kathleen’s friends are convinced that Durst is the culprit. Second, shortly after the authorities re-opened the investigation into Kathleen’s death, Durst’s good friend and confidant Susan Berman was murdered in California in 2000.

With that as background, The Jinx then returns to the Black murder and delves deeply into Durst’s prosecution and defense. Lawyers and law students will enjoy the fourth episode, which focuses on the legal aspects of Durst’s story. Through video of the trial and interviews with Durst’s all-star team of attorneys (including Dick DeGuerin, who awesomely wears a cowboy hat as he walks to court), the show explains how Durst’s defense team somehow evaded conviction for Black’s murder, allowing Durst to walk free despite being strongly suspect for murder (to quote Mr. Burns from The Simpsons) not once, not twice, but thrice.

The most fascinating aspect of The Jinx is that Durst actually participated. Series creator Andrew Jarecki had directed the 2010 film All Good Things, which starred Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst and was a fictional re-telling of Durst’s story. After Durst saw the film, he contacted Jarecki and asked if he could be interviewed in order to give his perspective; Jarecki thus decided to delve deeper into Durst’s life and to make this documentary.

Though I have no peer-reviewed study to back me up on this, Durst blinks more forcefully and for much longer than virtually any person I know. At first, I thought this could be some kind of tell, but then I realized that it would be the most obvious tell in the history of mankind (well, except for John Malkovich’s Oreo-eating tell in the movie Rounders). Then I realized that it was just a nervous tic that made Durst seem even less trustworthy. Durst is also hard to watch because he has a surprisingly thick New York accent and an extremely annoying voice. On a scale of one to 10 (with one being Andre Braugher’s beautiful voice and 10 being Adnan Syed’s attorney Cristina Gutierrez from Serial singing the Kars4Kids jingle), I would put Durst at about an eight.

Durst is surprisingly candid, as he admits lying to the police about several important facts relating to Kathleen’s disappearance (though he still maintains his innocence in all three murders). At the end of the fourth episode, in one of the show’s most interesting scenes so far, a hot microphone picks up Durst saying something to himself that makes it seem as if he has practiced his answers, throwing his credibility even more into doubt. In this week’s episode, Jarecki and his crew follow Durst as he tries, unsuccessfully, to obtain access to the office building that houses the Durst family business; the estrangement between Durst and his younger brother Douglas (who was chosen to run the family business) paints Durst in a more sympathetic light. Jarecki is smart to focus so much on Durst himself, as the audience essentially acts as a jury in order to judge Durst’s guilt or innocence.

Otherwise, The Jinx is a very well-made documentary, especially the last two episodes (five episodes of six have aired so far). Jarecki spent years making The Jinx, and his effort really shows. Jarecki appears to have turned over every stone, and this week’s episode ends with the cliffhanger of the discovery of a key piece of evidence that was never found by the authorities. Jarecki was also somehow able to convince countless individuals to go on record, including Durst’s friends, Durst’s family, Kathleen’s family, Susan’s family, witnesses, detectives, defense attorneys, prosecuting attorneys, jurors, and even the judge who oversaw the Black trial (which somehow seems improper). Sadly, Jarecki was not able to score an interview with DeGuerin’s cowboy hat.

Sponsored

Moreover, some other documentary directors drive me crazy by making their films too much about them, but Jarecki finds the right balance regarding how much time he spends on screen. In his interviews, Jarecki usually only appears onscreen while interviewing Durst, but not the other interviewees. To be fair, Jarecki was in front of the camera often in this week’s episode, but much of this time is spent unsuccessfully coercing Douglas Durst to appear in the documentary. By showing, for example, how Douglas blew Jarecki off after Jarecki confronted him at a reception, Jarecki was able to illustrate the great lengths that the Durst family will go to avoid commenting on this story. Moreover, Jarecki and his crew appear onscreen at the very end of this week’s episode after a key piece of evidence is discovered, but this was definitely justified.

On the other hand, Jarecki is fond of utilizing visual reenactments by actors (always with their faces obscured). While these images are occasionally haunting (like, for example, Durst watching his mother standing ghost-like on the family’s roof before committing suicide), they are mostly distracting, as they take away from the verisimilitude of the documentary form. For example, the fourth episode contains a very cheesy reenactment of the fight between Durst and Black that ultimately led to Black’s death.

I criticized Serial for running out of steam at the end, and others criticized it for not having a “bombshell” ending (though I do not agree with this latter critique). The Jinx does not have this problem, as the last two episodes have been excellent. The key piece of evidence discovered at the end of this week’s episode sets up a showdown between Jarecki and Durst in Sunday’s finale. Hopefully, Serial and The Jinx will begin a trend of smart, long-form stories exploring crime and/or the legal process, not to jinx it of course (pun unquestionably intended).

Harry Graff is a litigation associate at a firm, but he spends days wishing that he was writing about film, television, literature, and pop culture instead of writing briefs. If there is a law-related movie, television show, book, or any other form of media that you would like Harry Graff to discuss, he can be reached at harrygraff19@gmail.com. Be sure to follow Harry Graff on Twitter at @harrygraff19.

Sponsored

Topics

, , , , ,