'BLACK BOX DIARIES' REVIEW: An Investigation Into A Crime Conducted by the Victim [4/5]
Journalist-Director-Subject Shiori Ito Is A Force, In Life and Now On Film
[Rating 4/5] - dir. Shiori Ito - 2024 - Canada/Japan - R - 1h 42m - Documentary
Subject and Director Shiori Ito punctuates this intense documentation of her abuse incident and its subsequent investigation with sharp, uncomfortably unfiltered footage and insights about cultural, systemic sexism and widespread victim blaming. But she is never completely cynical. That strikes me as truly admirable — and, sadly, on my end — surprising. Going public with the past abuse and then choosing to explore consequences herself never feels vengeful (although it would have a right to be), even when she shares some absolutely brutal quotes delivered by people who don’t know they’re being recorded. Black Box Diaries feels presented as a deep working-through of Ito’s perspective on society, where the incident itself serves as a way in. It’s a film that, despite being overtly subjective, has an air of objectivity.
This sense of steady hands over everything helps guide the viewer through some emotionally arresting, harsh material. Even the opening begins with the gentlest of warnings. Ito understands the material is traumatic, and although she knows she must tell it, she also knows you should only hear and see it when you’re capable.
Black Box Diaries is thorough in its empathy. It eventually permeates past any initial nagging feelings of “directed-at-a-distance”. And this kind of empathy is a wonderful, woefully under-emphasized element by too many documentarians of the 2020s, who seem more at ease trading in and prioritizing scaring and scarring their viewers with occasionally classist true crime mega-melodrama.
Wave after wave of casual and critical misogyny can’t quite combat the consistent undercurrent of compassion.
Ito is a force, in life and now on film.
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Black Box Diaries is playing in Vancouver, Montreal, and Ottawa theatres starting November 15, 2024.
Selected Movie Quote: “…Your future will be in jeopardy, Ms. Ito.”
[Rating 4/5] - dir. Shiori Ito - 2024 - Canada/Japan - R - 1h 42m - Documentary