Kate Plays Christine

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.

I want to be diplomatic and not call this garbage but…Ellie Kemper's less talented hipster cousin embarks on preparation of a role for a film that does not seem to exist (there is no record of it on IMDb and the news stories about the doc do not mention where it went. Did Greene set out to make the movie and then realize how awful all of his actors were and then change direction to salvage the footage by turning it into this "documentary"?) She looks nothing like the real Christine and any amount of spray tan and colored contacts aren't convincing enough to make us believe it. (The wig is the worst "performer" in this doc...as I'm typing this there's a scene where she TAKES IT SWIMMING. Girl, you want to be a real actress, don't be that much of a dumbass.) I'm confused why this got so much praise, I found it to be a frustrating watch.

It seems strange that two films in 2016 were made about a long forgotten on-air suicide in Saratoga, Florida in 1974. It's a bizarre enough event that I was interested in seeing the films. There is a straight-up biopic starring Recca Hall called Christine, but the more interesting film was probably the documentary, Kate Plays Christine (2016). In this documentary by Robert Greene-the audience follows actress Kate Lyn Sheil research and work out how to play the elusive Christine Chubbuck of which there is little existing footage or facts remaining-let alone the infamous tape of the incident. We learn about guns laws of the 70s, the behind-the-scene life at a small local news station, and the private agony that Chubbuck was experiencing at the time of her suicide. Sometimes the pretentious musings of the actress were trying, but in general it was an interesting way to get into the head of this damaged woman who deiced to share her misery with the world.

The idea was great in that we see an actress study her art to be transformed into the tortured soul of Christine Chubbuck who shot herself live on local TV in the 1970's. Kate Lyn Shiel gets to try on some dresses and get a bespoke wig to be transformed into a living embodiment of the late news woman.

She also delves into her past to meet some people to talk a bit about the woman they knew. This could have been insightful but instead of that it is all about Kate Lyn Shiel and what a true artist she is to do all this work for such an important role etc.

This is self indulgent and pretty insulting. After seeing this I have absolutely no intention of seeing the actual film, a complete vanity project and one could say a cynical attempt to promote the actual product and or milk this project for all it is worth. Whilst it espouses to examine the futile act of sensationalism that Christine did in order to further the 'blood and guts' aims of her TV station – this does exactly the same with the naked furtherance of the projects' own profits and notoriety – shameful.