Undercurrent: The Disappearance of Kim Wall

While the subject matter is fascinating and the focus on Kim Wall as opposed to the murderer admirable, this documentary was stretched to bizarre lengths... and I can't fathom why. This would've worked much better as an 80-minute doc, and literally no content would have to be cut; only the endless slo-mo transitions would have to be trimmed.

The length really hurts the storytelling, as I felt myself lulled into boredom on multiple occasions. The content should drive the length; not the editor's love for overlong transitions.

Kim Wall (Journalist) and her Partner Ole Stobbe threw a formal farewell party to friends and family for their decision to move to Beijing on August 16th. Peter Madison is an outlandishly mouthy hyperactive scientist who seems to support an apathetic mental torpor. Nevertheless, he convinces Kim Wall to pay a visit to his hand-made miniature submarine named UC3 Nautilus. 2 people, Kim and Peter leave the docks for a test drive on August 11th, (5 days before Kim and her partner Ole's move to Beijing) with the sub at around 7:00 PM (local time). Only one person, Peter Madison, returns.

The bizarre story follows his arraignment and imprisonment. Then a stupendous escape ensues in the MacGyver style from the prison. Finally, his twisted personality turns the court system into a media circus. Albeit none of his efforts enable him to attain his freedom.

At last, in 2020, Peter Madison admitted to killing Kim Wall. The Netflix documentary undertakes this raw and crazy story in style. It is Choreographed elegantly and coherently, a well-told dramatic chronicle.

It's really gross and sad to see reviews of this documentary that say it would have been better and could have been covered in less time if there was less focus on Kim's life, who she was as a person, and the people who loved her. Not only is that disgusting, but it also willfully ignores the point of telling these stories and, in fact, the entire point of this documentary (a point which was clearly expressed several times throughout). The point of true crime stories shouldn't be solely focusing on the killer and the crime. These stories shouldn't make the killers a household name while only focusing on the victim for as long as it takes to describe the worst day of their life. These stories need to show the other side of things- the void left in people's lives and in the world now that this person has been taken out of it. We know too many "famous" killers' names and yet next to nothing about their victims. This documentary does an amazing job of balancing the story and the trial with the human impact of Kim's death. It's just really pitiful that folks don't seem to have enough attention span for both.

I dont really understand the reviews saying that this was extremely slow and boring? I never heard about this crime before and for me it was not boring at all. It kept adding more and more gruesome disturbing details of what happened to this poor woman. The story's timeline was a bit annoying to follow in some places, but other then that it was a very interesting crime story, one of the most horrific I saw. I feel so sorry for the family and friends of the victim and of course they have the rigth to talk about the victim as much they want, if you are not interested don't watch. As for the killer there is not much to it, it is a psychological condition he has and he fulfilled his dream.

I watched ' The Investigation ' and I was enthralled but most would find that offering way too slow moving. So I was intrigued by this documentary with the same subject matter and I was not disappointed. An exploration of a seemingly random killing or actually bad luck; wrong place wrong time. Intelligent coverage of what was a such a sensational murder and criminal trial. Interesting, informative, sensitive rendering of a a tragic loss of a young curious female journalist trying to get a story. This documentary is everything that 'sensational media' discounts because they want the sensation and not necessarily the complete story. I have not watched much in this genre since I watched 'City Confidential' which I avidly watched a long time ago. This documentary is sensitive intelligent and extremely well executed.