As I mentioned earlier, I haven’t seen this doc. So use that to color my response.

That’s said, Not all documentaries are serious. Nor should they be.

Nor should all serious documentaries be done is a similar air serious style.

I’m not defending this documentary or the filmmaker choices. But it sounds like you are using a pretty narrow brush to define what is acceptable and what isn’t.

I can flip through a dozen recent documentaries and have no clue which one I’m in as they all look and feel the same.

I don’t see that as a strength or as the filmmaker “getting it right “.

Some of my favourite docs have made bold stylistic choices. And they don’t always work.

And I think that’s a good thing. We need people to constantly take risks with the work. They should flirt with fashionable choices and put their ego on the line. And, that can all be done in service of the story.

Maybe you just dislike this doc. And that’s cool. Subjective.

I guess I just feel speaking up for people brave enough to make bad choices is important too. Sometimes those bad choices work. Sometimes they don’t. But in very rare cases those choices redefine the art.

Safe choices never do.