“Netflix has given new life to the great tradition of documentary filmmaking and Voyeur is yet another fascinating notch in their belt.”

Voyeur: 3.5 out of 5

Voyeur is about a journalist named Gay Talese. This is an important distinction. As much as it is also about a man named Gerald Foos, who outfitted an entire motel to be his personal voyeuristic laboratory, it is really about Talese’s 30+ year journey reporting and writing about Foos.

Kane, Koury, and their entire crew deserve some serious kudos. I can’t imagine how much footage they must have shot and how uncomfortable and strange the production of this film must have been. They did an amazing job of capturing and combining raw reactions, cinematic dramatizations, and archival footage into a focused and entertaining tale of two men who are obsessed with their crafts.

The reason I gave this doc a 3.5 instead of a 4 is because I am not sure it is for everyone. The content is so challenging, creepy, and uncomfortable that you feel like you want to take a shower after it is over (just make sure you close your air vents first). While it is brilliantly done, it is definitely not a feel good movie with universal appeal. To be clear, that doesn’t mean it isn’t of the highest quality, it just means I am not sure it is what most people want to spend their precious free time watching.