Dear Zachary (2008)

Passion drives the hyperactive style of Kurt Kuenne’s very personal nonfiction film: Kuenne’s childhood friend, Dr. Andrew Bagby, was murdered in Pennsylvania in 2001, and the prime suspect, Bagby’s ex-girlfriend and fellow M.D., fled to Canada, where she gave birth to his son, Zachary. Then the story gets worse — deepening a tragedy that Kuenne unspools, with intrusive narrative flourishes, as a surprise horror story. Still, the facts are so awful that Dear Zachary can be forgiven much of its antsiness — as a memorial, as a condolence to Bagby’s parents (who became activists for judicial reform in their late son’s honor), and as a howl of grief. B–