A Gray State

I was gripped from the opening scenes. Not knowing the story, it unfolded like a mystery, thanks to a solid structure from a director in control. I don't wish to diminish the content, as really, this is a very disturbing and sad story, as told through the people closest to David, the young man at the center of A Gray State. He was clearly talented but did not realize that as he was creating his debut feature film, he was really documenting his own story, one, which unfortunately, we are now all to privy to. It's a shame that the young woman who shares his journey wasn't represented more by her family, but given the situation, you can understand why they probably didn't wish to participate. As a parent, it's absolutely heartbreaking. A truly tragic story, that didn't leave any questions for me, that it might do for others. The human mind is a fragile thing, especially after trauma. There is a high degree of responsibility, however, of governments to look after those whom it exposes to war, that should last long after duty is over.

I think the low rating, at least among those voting and not the critics who like the film, is disappointment the filmmakers did not turn Crowley into some kind of martyr, but treated him as the disturbed murderer that he was. As we've seen in the news so many times just in the last couple years, This can very well be the results of following absurd and dangerous conspiracy theories and letting your emotions overtake your reason. Even more relevant in 2019 than it was when first released. Highly recommended!

While I do think this was a great documentary with an interesting enough story to tell, it was slightly repetitive in spots. About a new director with budding potential named David Crowley who is mysteriously murdered while creating an admittedly provocative film about a police state with an oppressive government. The story, while repetitive at times, does a great job telling the story to the viewer, providing an easily understood story of David's personal life, his life as a promising new director, and his families unfortunate end. But as I said before, the only slight drawback is that it often repeats itself when telling the story. And we will discuss it.

The film jumps around between David's personal life, his work on the film, and his murder. The issue is SOMETIMES, the story repeats itself when starting a new section. I found myself thinking that the film already explained that he was a potentially great film maker, feeling that the film repeats its to remind you of things that didn't happen too long ago for me to forget and need to be reminded. I would have also liked to hear more about his murder, which I found to be an interesting plot line that wasn't fleshed out as much as I would of hoped. But I must emphasize that these are only minor issues.

Over all I would recommend the film to anyone, though some may find it to be too conspiracy theory laden, but as an avid documentary viewer, I enjoyed it.

The very unfortunate story of the murder-suicide of the Crowley family. The documentary includes relevant interviews and archival footage. A thoughtful timeline of events is presented and the interviews have good flow. Most of the content is about the making of Davids movie and gave the documentary a home movie vibe rather than a true crime vibe. Overall a decent documentary.

I really thought I was going to watch something that made me think 'WOW! That's deep! The government did kill them!' I really thought I was going to be WOW'D by this documentary like 9/11 conspiracy, or the Marilyn Monroe murder conspiracy, but after watching this documentary it was clear to me (no questions asked) David killed his wife and kid and then took his own life. He liked to control and seemed very narcissistic which lead me to think wanted to the publicity and make us all think the murders (after his death) was a conspiracy (which it wasn't.)