The world of true crime is lurid and unpleasant. Tons of people find themselves fascinated by the true stories of horrible suffering that befall other real human beings. There is a genuine artistry to finding the humanity in a horrible person or exploring the pain of their victims, and that leaves some true crime movies in a world of unique cinematic language.
True crime is dealing with extremely accurate accusations of exploitation. The genre almost always oversteps its bounds into a world of grim exploitation and blatant profiteering off of the worst events of people's lives. However, some stories need to be told, and film is often the proper medium to tell them.
Spotlight
Tom McCarthy's 2015 adaptation of the Boston Globe's efforts to expose a systemic culture of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church was celebrated in its time. Now, 7 years later, it feels as if the film has been somewhat forgotten. The film is one of the best newsroom dramas ever put to film. The ensemble cast, including Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, and more, bring incredible passion and weight to this powerful story. The dramatic push-pull of the Spotlight team trying to expose the extremely grim truth as the local church-going community tries to stop them is as engaging as it is depressing. The story is treated with respect and the heroes manage to feel impressively human, even as their actions are larger than life. Spotlight is an instant classic that deserves the attention it got, as tough to watch as it can be.
Changeling
Not to be confused with George C. Scott's 1980 horror film, Changeling tells the tragic tale of Christine Collins. Collins' son Walter disappeared, leading to a widely publicized hunt and thousands of letters to the LAPD. The search turned up a boy, but Collins immediately discovered, to her horror, that this kid was not her son. The cops disagreed, accused her of attempting to defame them, and had her committed to the local psych ward for her statement. Angelina Jolie stars as Collins, and the tale of a woman fighting the system to get back her son brings up some deeply troubling truths. Screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski encountered the story while writing for a magazine in the 80s and spent more than 20 years studying the facts. The film was directed by Clint Eastwood, who has always had a strange creative vision, but he brings some real weight to this lesser-known true story.
Foxcatcher
In 1984, multimillionaire and heir to a comical family fortune John du Pont recruited two Olympic gold medalist wrestlers to his team to help train new competitors to compete in later games. Mark Schultz and his big brother Dave were among very few siblings to simultaneously take home the gold. The relationship between the brothers and their new employer, and the eventual murder that ended it, is the focus of Bennet Miller's stellar 2014 film. John, Mark, and Dave are portrayed by Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, and Mark Ruffalo respectively, and they are all outstanding in their roles. Carell has proven his dramatic talents multiple times, but this is likely his strongest performance to date. The visual style is gripping, the acting is note-perfect, and the psychological aspects of the story shine through. Foxcatcher is a fiercely intelligent film that sticks with its audience.
Capote
Almost a decade before Foxcatcher, Miller directed this fantastic depiction of the beginning of true crime as a genre and the writer who started it all. In 1965, Truman Capote wrote In Cold Blood, a true story about a quadruple homicide that took place in a small Kansas farming community. To research the work, Capote had to interact directly with the family of the deceased and the incarcerated suspects. The story led to a biography, which was later adapted into this 2008 film. The late great Phillip Seymour Hoffman finds one of the greatest roles of his career in his portrayal of Truman Capote. It's a note-perfect impression, but it's also a deeply textured and moving performance. Capote is an important piece of true crime history and one of the best films in the genre.
BlacKkKlansman
True crime doesn't have to be miserable, sometimes it can be a funny story. Spike Lee's adaptation of the tale of Ron Stallworth doesn't get all the facts straight, and it's far too kind to the police at the time, but it is a gripping story. The film follows John David Washington as Stallworth, the first black detective in Colorado Springs. Stallworth heads a mission to infiltrate the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan, leading to an in-depth undercover plot and a series of engaging cat-and-mouse games. The film is mostly comedic, as the audience gets to watch the heroes get one over on these dumb racists. BlacKkKlansman is a lot more fun than it sounds and a lot smarter than it needed to be.