benhampel

This is a very informative, well researched series. My only complaint is the lighting of the interviews. Maybe the color scheme of the interviews are meant to be reminiscent of the mid '70's. OK, fine but turn the lights on so we can see who is talking! The camera movement and compositions are great but you can't see the people talking. It makes no sense. There is a good balance of interviews with people who knew the families and archival information. I was unaware of several details in the story. Such as the father-in-law connection to the mob. Curious if the filmmakers have done other stuff and if they lit the interviews.

Daym Drops is a big dude and a big personality. The businesses he chooses to highlight look great. However I can do without the slow motion, pornographic shots of Drops shoveling food into his gaping maw. It's a bit much.

The premise of "The Motive" is intriguing enough to warrant a documentary. A fourteen year old boy kills his parents and two sisters, shows no remorse and never provides a justification. The 'no remorse' aspect can be attributed to a mental disorder. However the roughly two hours of episodes never provides an answer as to why he did it. The frustrating attitude of defense lawyer Yossi Arnon of "I know but I'll never tell" just gets played out for far too long. And having to watch close up shots of his old man gecko-like tongue flicking in and out of his mouth was unpleasant. Watching four episodes and never hearing the name of the central figure was confusing at first. I had to search online for why that was. The identity of minors must has been protected by law in Israel. That's fine but it's never mentioned in the docu-series. So you are left wondering why his name is never mentioned and yet he's shown throughout in news footage and home movies. Only until the end credits roll do you realize that it was all re-enactments. Re-enactments in documentaries are now common place but they usually are so stylized that you know what they are without needing to be told. But with 'The Motive' I felt very confused as to what was real and what was a re-enactment. I can only be sure that the interviews were real.