Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
Literary icon Joan Didion reflects on her remarkable career and personal struggles in this intimate documentary directed by her nephew, Griffin Dunne.
This intimate documentary benefits from extraordinary access to Didion herself, with Griffin Dunne's nephew relationship lending warmth and candor to the portrait. The archival material is well-curated and Didion's reflections on grief, writing, and the 1960s counterculture are genuinely compelling. However, the film follows a fairly conventional biographical documentary structure — chronological career overview mixed with personal revelation — and doesn't push the form in particularly distinctive ways. The ending feels somewhat abrupt and doesn't fully synthesize the emotional weight of Didion's losses. Strong for fans of the subject but unlikely to convert those unfamiliar with her work.