PrimeWire

To best digest this documentary, you must consider its source. This is a project done by an (inexperienced) young film maker about his own mother. These circumstances present both problems and opportunities.
First, objectivity is nearly impossible. While objectivity is very very difficult for any documentary maker, Madison Hamburg has an easier time admitting it. If a documentarian tries to take the stance that they completely separate themselves from their subject, or that their involvement with their subject doesn’t change perceptions or outcomes of the research, they are either lying, naïve, or both.
Second, the story being told in non-linear. There have been very popular documentary series in recent years (i.e. Making a Murderer) that give into “storytelling” and force a pleasing and cohesive narrative. Investigations aren’t linear. The grieving process isn’t linear. Family relations, especially those involving substance abuse and money problems, certainly aren’t linear.
Hamburg does fall into a bit of a Documentary 101 formula of getting a bit too episodic. Having each of the four pieces of this series focus on a different aspect of the story, following different motives and subjects, is an easy way to break down a very complicated story. But unless handled by a masterful documentarian, this approach can leave things feeling disjointed, abrupt, and jerky.
Real life is messy. Murder is messier. Madison Hamburg doesn’t shy away from either of these truths, nor does he try to tie up the story of his mother’s death with some kind of big plastic bow. His efforts continue and I wish him well.