‘Kate Plays Christine’ looks like a mind bender of a documentary

Clip It: Each day, Jon Davis looks at the world of trailers, featurettes and clips and puts it all in perspective.

This documentary is a pretty intense foray into the world of performance art. Kate Lyn Sheil, who is well known indie movie actor, sets out to play Christine Chubbuck, a real-life news reporter who killed herself on air in 1974. Dark stuff. Especially because Kate Lyn Sheil is a perfectionist and she's plumbing the depth of her soul to get the character right. 

This can't be good for a person's mental health. Right? That's what this documentary seems to really be about: the commitment it takes for someone to fully empathize with the mentally ill and what happens when you take on too much of that water for yourself. It's always exciting to see people really dedicated to their art. And I love brain-tingling documentaries. My favorite is Exit Through the Gift Shop, about a man documenting Banksy, only to have Banksy flip the camera back on him, and turn that man into an artist just like Banksy. I can't imagine how hard it is to stumble into a real life story that takes a twist, so if this film has twists, then I'm excited to see it.

And if it doesn't, may I present a new idea for a movie. It's called Grace Plays Kate Playing Christine. In this version, rising indie star Grace Gummer plays rising indie star Kate Lyn Sheil, who gets lost in the role of Christine Chubbuck. Now THAT would be cool.    

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