Louis Theroux: Shooting Joe Exotic

This 2021 British documentary begins with Louis Theroux returning to a programme he made years earlier. While working on private exotic animal keepers in the United States, Theroux had met Joe Exotic; in the time since, the man became famous and went to prison. The subject is looking again at one's own footage. Theroux rewatches his old material, asks what he failed to notice then and speaks again with the people around him; the real question is how a performing personality gets built. Theroux also questions his own part in it. He discusses openly whether his camera made room for that persona; the narrative refuses to present Joe Exotic as an amusing character and pulls the condition of the animals to the centre. Who it's for: those who like Theroux's method and documentary that includes media criticism. Who it's not for: viewers who would rather not see the conditions in which wild animals are kept.