THE BEKSIŃSKIS. A Sound and Picture Album (2017) Slamdance 2019

Artist Zdzisław Beksiński recorded his and his family's life with what ever her could. From film, audio tape and later video  tape. He also sent letters and kept diaries and journals. as a result of all this recording it charted his "cursed" families history though mental illness, plane crashes and suicide.

While Beksiński's odd and dysfunctional life was the source of the film THE LAST FAMILY from 2016, this is the unvarnished truth. A full feature of the material that filled the final moments of the earlier film this film is often hard to watch. A little too much is revealed. We don't need to know this much about anyone, even ourselves. The result is a film that is utterly fascinating.

There are observational documentaries and then there is this film which manages to be both subjective and objective. We see the world ordered through Beksiński's choices but it records moments that are life as lived and which almost no documentarian would have or could have filmed. Its  gripping even as we wonder why are we watching this.

While this is not going to be every film fan or documentary fan's cup of tea,  for those who honestly and truly want to see a life as lived, and which goes sideways, this is going to be manna from heaven.

Highly recommended.