The Dizzying Montage of Fragments in Adam Curtis' Excellent Docu-Series 'Can't Get You Out of My Head'
Since Pandora’s Box (1992), his first fully-formed documentary series, Adam Curtis has been exploring the forces that shape society: science, finance, psychology, and more. He’s also using the vast BBC archive as a resource, digging through this Reithian residue, turning up rare and strange moments, and making increasingly bold aesthetic choices. Curtis’ documentaries don’t present themselves as neutral reportage; they are beautifully aestheticized essay films that put across a particular argument. While the earlier works contained newly-shot footage and interviews conducted by Cur...