It’s a case that’s had the world confused for the past twenty years. Casting JonBenet looks at the theories behind the unsolved murder of the six-year-old pageant queen.
Capitalising on the newfound popularity of true crime shows and with 2016 marking the twentieth anniversary of the murder of JonBenét Ramsey, Casting JonBenet premiered on Netflix on April 28. Instead of following the norm of popular true crime shows like Making A Murderer where real evidence is used, or The People v OJ Simpson where actors retell the tale, Casting JonBenet uses an interesting combination of the two.
Kitty Green, an Australian director, travelled to the Ramsey’s hometown of Boulder, Colorado to interview local residents about the mystery that still haunts the town. Instead of using archival footage from the very documented event, Green employed a new documentary technique: documentary hybrid.
Over the course of 15 months, Green collected performances, reflections and responses from the Boulder community to create a bold piece of artwork from the memories and theories created over the years. While the film didn’t uncover any new evidence or insight into the case, it did express the feelings and theories that some of the Ramsey’s closest neighbours believed.
While the film was created to explore a side of the unsolved crime that hadn’t been in the media’s grasp as much as all the other films on JonBenet, the execution fell flat. The documentary screams weird and its creative treatment of the events makes it hard to take seriously. It starts with some awkward actor introductions, men dressed in Santa suits, cringe-worthy daytime soap opera acting and a BDSM sex educator who tells the world what he really likes.
Without any evidence and archival footage present throughout the film, everything is simply speculative. It becomes a big game of ‘Who Dunnit?’ that is awkward to watch when two actors with opposing views are seated together for a scene.
Green stands by the film she made, claiming that it wasn’t supposed to answer any questions. She told E! that “People were connecting it to their own personal trauma or their own emotional baggage or what not…Often they drew a conclusion from their own lives.” – and that was the point. She wanted to explore the story as a whole and not lose focus of who was actually at the centre of the whole crime.
Casting JonBenet is available on Netflix now.
