ICARUS (2017)

2/6/2018 - Icarus (2017) - 7/10

Starting as a very personal story, it blows up into a world engaging cover-up epic as it goes on, I think quite unexpectedly. This is part of the charm and magic, getting caught up in a larger world-spanning dialogue that the filmmaker never intended or expected, but happened to be in the right place at the right time. Told with humor and a commercially intelligent slickness, this is a fun and telling doc. It does lose some momentum after a change in pace and dialogue, but it remains intriguing until the credits roll.

Delving into sports doping, first on an educational personal journey, it then expands to getting swept up in the rampant Russian doping scandal that has shaken international sports over the past few years. Makes for a fun and increasingly intense survey, but the original intent and results too easily become obscured in the craziness of politics & power.

Transitions and editing were quite slick. Technically, it excels. Some of the personelness is subsumed in the wildness and frenzy, but this is a documentarian rolling with the punches and capitalizing upon them. It drags a tad a the tail end, but the overall experience is a flashy and interesting.