Undercurrent: The Disappearance of Kim Wall

"Undercurrent: The Disappearance of Kim Wall" (2022 release; 2 parts totaling 126 min.) is a documentary about the brutal murder of Swedish journalist Kim Wall. As Part 1 "The Crime" opens, it is "August 10, 2017" as Kim Wall boards the submarine which Danish eccentric inventor Peter Madsen has built himself. She is doing a piece on him for Wired magazine. The submarine does not return to shore, and before too long, the Danish authorities start looking for it... At this point we are 10 min into Part 1.

Couple of comments: this is the latest documentary from Erin Lee Carr, a widely respected and award-winning documentarian ("I Love You, Now Die"; "At the Heart Of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal"). Here she looks back at the savage (and worse) murder of Kim Wall by Peter Madsen. This 2 part documentary is like Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde. Part 1 feels hurried and aloof, certainly as compared to last year's excellent Danish 6 part mini-series "The Investigation", which truly conveys the efforts by the Danish authorities to tie Madsen to the murder. Then, just as surprising, Part 2 "The Punishment" is an excellent assessment what drove Madsen to do what he did (something that is barely addressed in "The Investigation"). Frankly, I was ready to bail on "Undercurrent" after the disappointing Part 1. Glad I decided to ride it our. Boottom line: if, like me, you have seen "The Investigation", you will not miss out on much if you skip Part 1 of "Undercurrent" and instead you go straight to Part 2.

"Undercurrent: The Disappearance of Kim Wall" recently premiered on HBO and is now available on HBO On Demand and HBO Max, where I caught it. If you are interested in true crime documentaries, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion, although for those of you who have seen "The Investigation", I'd go straight to Part 2.

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.

This could've been captivating had it not been watered down with a slow pace and filler to stretch this into 2 episodes. Otherwise we'll done and worth watching.

Could have been done with one episode. Way to many unnecessary cut aways. Felt like it was in slow motion. Could have been much less boring. Not much else to add but 150 character requirement.

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.