Kate Plays Christine

Having just recently seen the other "Christine" movie (which was superlative), I read about this one and was interested. Had I gone by most of the reviews on this site, I never would've watched it. I am absolutely amazed at how many people thought this was pretentious etc - I found it anything but! It was, IMO, a wonderful tribute to such a sad, sick woman who needed the help that wasn't available in the 70s. What she did was, really, a brave act. She knew she would never fit in in the world she inhabited. This movie gave voice to her anguish.

It was a strange coincidence this past Sundance when two movies about the same subject - Christine Chubbuck - played in competition. Christine, the other movie, is a conventional biopic, one that I found to be the best movie I've seen so far this year; this take on Christine Chubbuck is a documentary approach. Kind of.

Kate Plays Christine centers around Kate Lynn Sheil preparing for the role of Christine Chubbuck in a low-budget biopic. We follow her through the preparation period, which consists of research, getting a tan, getting fitted for a wig, calling Chubbuck's former news station in order to gain access to archive footage of Christine, and interviews with locals from Sarasota Florida about Christine. This all is interspersed with footage from this biopic in-the-making.

This is where the film's premise is going to confuse an average viewer, this biopic that's being filmed isn't actually "real". There is no movie actually being made within this 'documentary' to be seen, though what little is seen, looks terrible.

Kate Lynn Sheil also, I was surprised, by how bad her performance is in these scenes. Yet, as I continued to watch the movie, I began to realize, that was the point.

In Christine, we see Rebecca Hall's take on Chubbuck as someone who wants to be a reporter in a bigger market, but her actual aptitude for being a reporter, as portrayed by Hall, leaves you wondering why she chose this particular field in the first place. A co-worker of Christine's even says, before presenting rare footage of the actual Christine Chubbuck giving an interview says, 'she wasn't the greatest interviewer'. Which leads me to believe that Kate Lyn Sheil is playing this part badly on purpose to imitate Christine Chubbuck's failure to be a reporter the way that she wanted to be. The "movie" within the documentary is bad as a statement that a biopic about someone truly unknowable, like Christine Chubbuck, shouldn't be made.

Though the execution of this concept isn't perfect, it has enough to admire within it to give it a watch. Though I disagree with the statement that's most likely being made about Christine, and even to some extent, itself, I respect why the filmmakers would take that stance.

Robert Greene and Kate Lyn Sheil are the reasons this movie works, with a lesser director and actress, this could've easily been a complete disaster, but somehow, this tricky material finds its way.

This was bad. It tried way too hard to be cool and edgy. And the way it switched back and forth from documentary to acting was just plain confusing and annoying. The other film about Chubbuck was far better and Rebecca Hall was brilliant in it and truly deserving of a nomination for her performance. I will say Kate looked a lot more like Christine than Rebecca did. A few times when she was tan it was actually eerie, but I give this movie one star for that, one for hearing from those who knew Christine, and one for showing some vintage footage of the real Christine Chubbuck. If you are interested in learning about Chubbuck, I definitely recommend the other film over this one.

I walked out of this film after 15 mins, so you should probably take that into consideration when reading.

Kate Plays Christine is a kind of mockumentary that revolves around an actress (Kate Lyn Sheil) preparing for a role in a film that doesn't actually exist (or maybe the role she's preparing for is one where she plays an actor preparing for a role, initiating a loop of pretentiousness the filmmakers seem content to create for themselves).

Kate Lyn Sheil seems to lack character and experience, which would make her a very poor choice for a role where the character publicly kills herself after a tragically short life of anxiety and failure. The filmmakers try to make up for this by focusing on her physical transformation into the character, and presenting some first-hand sources on Christine's life and personality in an extremely shallow way that never attempts to really peel back the layers on who Christine was. The film instead revolves around a pretty, bland girl making herself look good for the camera.

The idea for this mockumentary is solid if needlessly abstract, however the fact that it's welded to a real-life tragedy that doesn't get the attention it deserves downright turns my stomach. If Christine could see how her life story had been co-opted by these thoughtless artists in the pursuit of their own egos I think that she'd feel the same.

This was very boring for the most part. The only thing about this i liked was her visits to the actual locations. What she says at the very end was a very interesting way of looking at the situation. My question is, whatever happened to the movie she was playing the part for? I've never heard of it or seen it available anywhere....The movie "Christine" wasnt bad. I would suggest watching that if you're interested in her case.