This Place Rules

Andrew Callaghan travels the United States with a microphone asking people questions. This documentary was shot in the months leading to the storming of the Capitol on 6 January 2021: rallies rejecting the election result, conspiracy broadcasters, preachers selling crypto, and the point where online rage walks out into the street. Callaghan's method is never to argue. He asks, then leaves the space open, and people explain themselves. That is both the strength and the weakness. Strong, because nobody gets defensive and what they say stands as it is. Weak, because the film does not press on structure or money, and the question of who profits from all this stays on the surface. It went out on HBO on 30 December 2022. Reviews split, with some arguing that it cannot hold the distance between comedy and catastrophe, and that its evenhandedness costs it depth. Who it is for: viewers interested in internet culture and American politics. Who it is not for: anyone wanting analysis and historical context.