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''Tabloid'' is a 2010 American
documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...
directed by
Errol Morris Errol Mark Morris (born February 5, 1948) is an American film director known for documentaries that interrogate the epistemology of its subjects. In 2003, his documentary film '' The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamar ...
. It tells the story of Joyce McKinney, who was accused of kidnapping and raping Kirk Anderson, an American Mormon missionary in England, in 1977. The incident, known as the Mormon sex in chains case, became a major tabloid story in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
and triggered a circulation battle between two popular tabloid newspapers, the '' Daily Express'' and the ''
Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print c ...
''. For the film, Morris interviewed McKinney, former ''Daily Express'' journalist Peter Tory (1939-2012), and ''Daily Mirror'' photographer Kent Gavin, among others. The film makes reference to various aspects of
Mormon culture #REDIRECT Culture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints #REDIRECT Culture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints {{R from other capitalisation ...
{{R from other capitalisation ...
, such as
temple garment A temple garment, also referred to as garments, the garment of the holy priesthood, or Mormon underwear, is a type of underwear worn by adherents of the Latter Day Saint movement after they have taken part in the endowment ceremony. Garments are ...
s.


Synopsis

The film, narrated primarily by McKinney herself and supplemented by other interviews with primary characters and experts, is presented by animated headlines, newspaper photos, and brief televised news reports from the time of the case. McKinney details her upbringing as a charismatic young beauty queen with a self-reported IQ of 168. In search of a "clean-cut, all-American boy" for a potential husband, McKinney is introduced to Kirk Anderson, a young Mormon man on the eve of his religious mission. McKinney states that she and Anderson fell madly in love and were engaged to be married, but that she mistrusted
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...
and its hold over Anderson, declaring the church to be a "cult" that " brainwashed" him. Former-Mormon-turned-activist Troy Williams offers insight into Mormon practices, beliefs, and attitudes to explain how Mormonism might seem cult-like to one not raised in the religion. When Anderson was sent to England on his mission, McKinney, believing the church elders deliberately separated them, recruited a pilot (Jackson Shaw, who appears in interviews) to fly her, her friend Keith "K.J." May, and a hired bodyguard named Gil Parker to England on a "rescue mission" McKinney framed in terms of a romantic caper. Upon arriving in England, McKinney allegedly revealed items such as handcuffs, chloroform, and a fake handgun, causing Shaw and Parker to fear they were participating in a crime and immediately return to America, leaving McKinney and May to continue alone. McKinney secretly contacted Anderson and persuaded him to meet with her. On 14 September 1977, Anderson was officially reported missing. At this point, the accounts begin to differ, with McKinney claiming Anderson willingly went with her and May to a cottage in
Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...
, where she and he had voluntary sex for several days. Anderson, however, claimed in police reports that he was forced into a car at gunpoint, driven into the countryside, and chained to a bed by May and McKinney, at which point McKinney raped him, telling him she would continue to do so until she became pregnant. McKinney admits Anderson was chained to the bed, but states he consented to the bondage in an effort to overcome his intense guilt regarding premarital sex. Williams suggests the truth perhaps lies somewhere between Anderson's and McKinney's differing accounts, and that Anderson may have initially gone willingly, and even engaged in consensual sex, but McKinney may have ignored his later objections. After three days in Devon, Anderson proposed marriage to McKinney (later telling police he did so in hopes of tricking McKinney into freeing him), and McKinney, Anderson, and May returned to London on 17 September. Upon discovering Anderson's disappearance was being investigated as a kidnapping, Anderson persuaded McKinney to allow him to go to police to assure them he was safe, and he did not return. McKinney speculates the Mormons threatened him with
excommunication Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...
if he refused to go along with the false kidnapping narrative, but, according to police records, Anderson reported he had been abducted and sexually assaulted. Two days later, on 19 September, McKinney and May agreed to meet with Anderson in what turned out to be a police sting, and the pair were arrested and charged with kidnapping, possession of a replica firearm, and sexual indecency (as there were no laws regarding the sexual assault of a man by a woman at the time). At a pre-trial hearing, McKinney delivered a colorful statement professing her love for Anderson and detailing their sexual escapades, insisting he had come with her willingly and their sex had been consensual. The newspapers, particularly the tabloids, were charmed by McKinney and the scandalous case, and they printed every detail. McKinney was released on bail after spending three months in
Holloway Prison HM Prison Holloway was a closed category prison for adult women and young offenders in Holloway, London, England, operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. It was the largest women's prison in western Europe, until its closure in 2016. Histor ...
, and she lived the life of a celebrity for a time, including attending the premiers of '' Saturday Night Fever'' and '' The Stud''. A few weeks before their trial for kidnapping was scheduled to begin, McKinney and May fled the UK, traveling incognito in a variety of outlandish disguises, and McKinney was found guilty ''in absentia'' of skipping bail, as the authorities declined to pursue
extradition Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdi ...
. Back in the United States, McKinney spoke exclusively with journalist Peter Tory of the '' Daily Express'', painting herself as an ordinary young woman in extraordinary circumstances. Meanwhile, photographer Kent Gavin of the rival British tabloid the ''
Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print c ...
'' obtained evidence that McKinney had funded her trip to England by working as a
call girl A call girl or female escort is a sex worker who (unlike a street walker) does not display her profession to the general public, nor does she usually work in an institution like a brothel, although she may be employed by an escort agency.< ...
in California, collecting a dossier of hundreds of photos of a nude McKinney performing
BDSM BDSM is a variety of often erotic practices or roleplaying involving bondage, discipline, dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and other related interpersonal dynamics. Given the wide range of practices, some of which may be engaged ...
acts, some of which were subsequently published in the ''Mirror''. In 1984, seven years after her escape, McKinney returned to the spotlight when she was arrested in Utah for
stalking Stalking is unwanted and/or repeated surveillance by an individual or group toward another person. Stalking behaviors are interrelated to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person or monitoring them. The term ...
Anderson, who was married to another woman, at his workplace. In August 2008, McKinney again made international headlines after becoming the first private individual to have an animal commercially cloned. McKinney initially denied she was the same woman involved in the "Manacled Mormon" case thirty years prior, but she eventually released a statement admitting her real identity. South Korean biologist Jin Han Hong, who participated in cloning McKinney's deceased pet
pit bull Pit bull is a term used in the United States for a type of dog descended from bulldogs and terriers, while in other countries such as the United Kingdom the term is used as an abbreviation of the American Pit Bull Terrier breed. The term was f ...
, gives a brief overview of the process, stressing that their work cannot "create life" from nothing. McKinney claims she has spent the last thirty years writing a book about her life and the kidnapping case (to be titled ''A Very Special Love Story''), but that her efforts have been hindered by documents being stolen from her home and vehicle, including evidence proving the nude photographs published by the ''Mirror'' were doctored (Gavin counters that the ''Mirror'' possessed the original negatives of all the nude photos, but says they were lost when the ''Mirror'' changed ownership). She says she never married, as Anderson is the only man she will ever love, so she lives alone with her five cloned pit bulls in rural
North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...
, where she is still occasionally bothered by journalists and the curious. End text reveals that May died in 2004 and Anderson did not wish to be interviewed for the film.


Soundtrack

The film's score was composed by John Kusiak, who had previously worked with Errol Morris on ''
The Fog of War ''The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara'' is a 2003 American documentary film about the life and times of former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, illustrating his observations of the nature of modern warfa ...
'' and '' First Person''. According to Kusiak, the process of composing music for Morris' projects is unusual, as Morris "likes to have music early on in the process and he likes to actually edit the film to the music rather than the traditional Hollywood approach.” A soundtrack album was officially released by
Milan Records Milan Records is a record label located in Los Angeles, California specializing in film scores and soundtrack albums. In addition, Milan boasts an extensive electronic catalog which features down-tempo, chillout, and eclectic electronic releases ...
on July 12, 2011.


Release

''Tabloid'' premiered at the
Telluride Film Festival The Telluride Film Festival (TFF) is a film festival held annually in Telluride, Colorado during Labor Day weekend (the first Monday in September). The 49th edition took place on September 2 -6, 2022. History First held on 30 August 1974, t ...
on September 3, 2010. It was picked up for distribution by Sundance Selects and given a
limited theatrical release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...
beginning on July 15, 2011.


Critical response

On
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has an approval rating of 92% based on 122 reviews, with an average score of 7.5 out of 10; the site's "critics consensus" reads: "It's far from his most thought-provoking work, but ''Tabloid'' finds Errol Morris as smart, spirited, and engaging as ever." On
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, the film has a
weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...
score of 74 out of 100 based on 34 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four stars, favorably comparing the way it showcases multiple, contradictory accounts of the same events, with Morris reluctant to frame any version of the story as "true", to
Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...
's ''
Rashomon is a 1950 Jidaigeki psychological thriller/crime film directed and written by Akira Kurosawa, working in close collaboration with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa. Starring Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyō, Masayuki Mori, and Takashi Shimura ...
'' (1950). In his review of the film, A. O. Scott of
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
praised Morris for his skills as an interviewer, writing: "Mr. Morris has developed a knack for finding that zone in each person’s character where lucidity intersects with delusion and where the urge to perform collides with the impulse to dissemble. People seem to be inventing themselves in front of his camera and then, a moment later, unmaking themselves."


Legal action against Morris

In November 2011, Joyce McKinney filed a lawsuit with the Los Angeles County Superior Court against Errol Morris, claiming Morris and his producer Mark Lipson misled her into believing she was being interviewed for a television series about innocent people whose lives were ruined by the
paparazzi Paparazzi (, ; ; singular: masculine paparazzo or feminine paparazza) are independent photographers who take pictures of high-profile people; such as actors, musicians, athletes, politicians, and other celebrities, typically while subjects ...
and a
media circus Media circus is a colloquial metaphor, or idiom, describing a news event for which the level of media coverage—measured by such factors as the number of reporters at the scene and the amount of material broadcast or published—is perceived to ...
, and that she was not aware until after the release of the film that it would be a feature-length film focused solely on the "Manacled Mormon" case. McKinney sued on the grounds that she was
defamed Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...
, as the film portrays her as "crazy, a sex offender, an S&M prostitute, and/or a rapist." In 2013, the case was decided in Morris' favor. In January 2016, McKinney again filed suit against Morris, claiming the film had misrepresented her and that Morris and his associates had broken into her home, stolen personal items related to the case, and threatened the life of her
service dog In general, an assistance dog, known as a service dog in the United States, is a dog trained to aid or assist an individual with a disability. Many are trained by an assistance dog organization, or by their handler, often with the help of a prof ...
if she did not sign release papers allowing them to use her footage in the film. In response, legal representatives for Morris stated that "evidence will show that cKinneywillingly – in fact, eagerly – participated in the lengthy interview that is featured in the film." Morris stated in an interview later that year that this case had been dismissed as "frivolous".


References


External links

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Infants on Thrones podcast review of the movie
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tabloid 2010 films 2010 documentary films American documentary films Documentary films about journalism Films about tabloid journalism Films directed by Errol Morris Films produced by Errol Morris 2010s English-language films 2010s American films