Synopsis:
A young mother’s mysterious death and her son’s subsequent kidnapping blow open a decades-long mystery about the woman’s true identity and the murderous federal fugitive at the center of it all.
We live in the golden age of true crime documentaries, where a lot of them seem to have the same story just a different cast of people to go along with the story. In Girl in the Picture. It feels like it should have been a miniseries from the start. Almost being too rushed to a degree that it manages to be stretched out the third act, to where all the remaining strings and strains from the crime all come together.
Skye Borgman, also the director of the phenomenal Abducted in Plain Sight, shines here as a director, however as I previously mentioned I would have preferred this to be a four part miniseries for Netflix so the characters could feel more fleshed out. Apologies if I missed some stuff throughout the documentary, however it was a true crime documentary that is a mixed bag.
If you want something masterful on Netflix for a true crime documentary go watch Jason Blum’s produced Our Father, I am interested in what Skye Borgman does next. Maybe a leap to a feature film would be an epic move on her part as she has real potential I just happened to find Girl In The Photo rather boring at times. My biggest complaint with this documentary was the pacing after the first act moved too slow for me.
Overall Grade: 2/5
