Babywatch
11m · USA
Directed by Eli Powers
Genres: drama, mystery, thriller
Tones: contemplative, dark, tense
A detective investigates the death of a young woman who died in a locked motel room after 17 days held by a church community claiming to watch over her. Loosely based on a real 1990s case and refuses to spoon-feed exposition.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
True-crime done dry, with no chyrons, no narrator, and a sense of humor that nobody asked for — exactly the wrong register, which is to say the right one. Eleven minutes of a procedural that refuses to behave.
Eli Powers handles real 1990s true-crime material with perverse humor instead of sober procedure — The Master's withholding plus Resurrection's slow burn. Refuses to spoon-feed and is better for it.
True-crime material handled with perverse humor instead of sober procedural register, told through witness depositions — Eli Powers reaching for a tonal swing on a real 1990s case is risky and interesting.
Reviews
A film that requires vigilance and acceptance — it doesn't hand over exposition in traditional ways — it registers with a perverse sense of humor.