If you thought that 2017 would bring the end of documentaries focusing on the still-unsolved case of the murder of JonBenét Ramsey, you might want to think again. After a slew of special documentaries and a Lifetime movie, Netflix is providing viewers with another take on the tragic event. The streaming service which brought us Making A Murderer could be responsible for the most intelligent and sensitive take on the crime, which still is a source of interest for many people.
New film Casting JonBenét is described as a “sly and stylized exploration of the world’s most sensational child-murder case.” It’s directed by Kitty Green, an award-winning documentarian who has previously directed Ukraine Is Not a Brothel and The Face of Ukraine: Casting Oksana Baiul. The latter, telling the story of the Olympic figure skater, premiered at Sundance in 2015 and won the short film non-fiction jury prize.
Casting JonBenét will make its world premiere as part of the U.S. Documentary Competition at the Sundance Film Festival before a limited run in theaters and becoming available on Netflix in the spring of this year. This is the first non-fiction film from Netflix that has competed at the festival.
Instead of addressing the more lurid aspects of the case, including implying that JonBenét’s brother Burke accidentally murdered his sister and accusations that parents Jon and Patsy tried to cover up the killing, Casting JonBenét will focus on how the murder and subsequent investigation have affected the community of the Ramsey’s hometown in Colorado. It will also explore “how this crime and it’s resulting mythologies have shaped the attitudes and behavior of successive generations of parents and children.”
Kitty was not able to interview any of the prime players in the case, including investigators and the Ramsey family for the project, so it will be interesting to see how this “sly and stylized exploration” will play out. Netflix certainly seems excited about it. The service’s VP of Original Documentary Programming, Lisa Nishimura, tells Variety:
Kitty boldly embraces the tradition of innovative risk-taking within the documentary filmmaking mode with her remarkable work on ‘Casting JonBenét,’. Netflix is the ideal home for showcasing Kitty’s sharply-rendered vision of a mythic American tragedy to a global audience, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the crime.
As I’ve mentioned before, I was riveted by Making A Murderer and Netflix puts out a tasteful, compelling true crime project. In fact, if you haven’t watched the documentary about Amanda Knox on the service, add it to your queue immediately. This new film looks at the crime from another angle, but do you think it was really necessary? It’s obvious the crime affected the world, but there’s a pretty good chance it will never be solved, and it’s just sad to keep dredging up the horrible memories associated with a 20-year-old murder. All that being said, I’ll definitely be watching this one.
Photo credit: Getty Images
Personally I remain enraptured by this case. JB was such an exquisitely beautiful little girl and the tragic and mysterious circumstances of her death make this case emotionally compelling. I hope JB can rest in peace. I can’t help but think what she’d be doing with her life had she lived.
Pictures of her in pageant makeup always freak me out. Just looks so wrong.
Same here.
Let the children be children.
Disagree with “exquisitely beautiful little girl.” Her mother dyed her hair to be blond. She was actually quite average little girl without the make-up and hair. Nothing wrong with being average. I personally think nothing is more distasteful than young children wearing make up and getting their hair done. Her parents were sick.
“its resulting . . .” Not “it’s”
Ugh. Let the poor child rest in peace.
I love a good true crime documentary so, yes I will be watching.
Yes, STOP.
Enough already.
Make it STOP
JonBenet is dead, her mother is dead, her brother will live with the horror of that day in his mind forever. There will always be people who want to relive these tragedies as this woman is, twenty years after the fact. JonBenet, it seems will never be allowed to rest in peace.
Stooooop exploiting this girl.
One theory I read was that Burke didn’t kill her accidentally but on purpose. That makes a lot more sense when considering why the parent’s went to such lengths to misdirect and cover up. The DA who was in charge knows that Burke did this and Burke couldn’t be prosecuted anyway so the DA who liked having the Ramsey’s as friends and knew he could never win a case decided to try to make it just go away.
Apparently the general public knows about 10% of what the grand jury who voted to indict the parents know so to say that we know all the evidence or they are cleared is wrong. There was some really weird stuff going on in that house.
Wasn’t there DNA found on her underwear that didn’t match any of the Ramsey’s? An unknown intruder?
I have read books on the case, but they all have different views. It’s a terrible tragedy. Don’t forget John Ramsey’s twenty year-old daughter from his first marriage was killed in a car accident, then JonBenet, then Patsy. Terrible for him.
The DNA was touch DNA and on a brand new, fresh out of the packet pair of undies, so the DNA could have come from anyone who handled or even briefly touched the underwear. For example in the factory when they were made or packaged, or if another shopper opened the package but didn’t buy them. It’s not unusual for that kind of DNA to be on brand new clothes.
The same DNA was found on another one of her garments, packaged in another factory.
I will never understand how people believe the Ramseys were able to 100% remove their own DNA (after torturing and sexually assaulting her), while somehow leaving this mysterious DNA from some worker in a sweatshop. It’s not logical.
This is so beyond gross. I will not be giving this the ratings by watching.
Enough already. This child’s tragic death has given the world enough entertainment. It’s beyond the point of sleezy, it’s just disgusting to me the way it keeps getting dragged out for more entertainment.
This.
A “sly and stylized” show about the real-life murder of a little girl? This is, as you said, disgusting.
Yeah really, “sly and stylized” it sounds so wrong, when it all really comes down to it this is exploiting the poor abused corpse of a little child.
If Jon Benet had not been a blonde beauty pageant princess, no way would this case have ever caught the public eye.
I feel the CBS show (the one Burke is suing them for a zillion dollars over) was the only one I needed to see in terms of the myriad documentaries on this case. I feel like that just about covered it.
Agree. I dropped netflix a while ago for Kodi and never looked back.
To answer your question, yes, it’s probably too much – but I will definitely be watching. Like others, I remain fascinated with the case and at least this is a somewhat different take on it than the other recent specials were.
This feels like exploitation. I am one of those people who is fascinated by true crime shows (I almost became a forensic psychologist) and I ardently believe that the best way to honor a victim is to share their story and provide justice to whoever killed them. But… they don’t have any new information to include in this show.
It’s a cheap ploy to gain viewership, and they have zero information that would enhance the chances of solving this case, which is doesnt pretend to do. They can sensationalize the case all they want to a specific demographic of people, who forget that this was a child that was victimized on Christmas. People who could get the same info off of YouTube, but that would take effort i suppose, so they’ll watch the netflix version instead. Retching people who get a sparkle of excitement by watching a re-enactment of a child being murdered. Disgusting people and double disgusting if they’re parents.
I’m probably not going to bother. The crime will never be solved and it seems cruel to the remaining family to keep trotting it out for entertainment. The police lost control of the crime scene early on and with that also lost the chance they had to resolve the murder.
Poor little girl. She would have been in her mid-twenties by now.
I wonder is this poor girls murder the only one there in the states?? It’s been a year I’m hearing about this non stop. Are the networks so desperate that they have nothing else to show? What’s the point? I get it once in a while as a reminder but over and over and over again the same stuff…
I fail to see the point. It likely will never be solved, and it’s just rehashing the same stuff over and over in slightly different ways for money and ratings. I don’t understand the fascination. Yes, it’s tragic and she was a cute little girl, but surely there are other unsolved murders that may actually benefit from a share of this attention. It’s not even like any of these shows are trying to accomplish anything legitimate. I wish people would just let it go.