Review: 'Framing John DeLorean' a must-be-seen-to-be-believed documentary

Sundance Selects, 2019.

You know the car from "Back to the Future," now get to know the fascinating story behind the car's maker, John DeLorean...it's a story that will transport you through time and may not go exactly the way you remember.

Grade: A-

John DeLorean was a rising star at General Motors, who went on to create the competing DeLorean Motor Company. His signature stainless steel creation was used in the "Back to the Future" film series, becoming an iconic symbol of the 1980s and one of the most recognizable vehicles ever produced. But DeLorean's company went belly-up in 1982, and it's one heck of a story...a story that seems like a PERFECT fit for a Hollywood dramatization.

And yet, no fictionalized DeLorean film has been made. However, one of the running jokes in the documentary "Framing John DeLorean" is that several of the interview subjects in the film are identified as filmmakers that worked on several different, failed attempts to bring DeLorean's story to the big-screen. Given this, "Framing John DeLorean" can now be considered the definitive DeLorean movie, because it not only acts as a documentary, it's also in fact a partial drama, with Alec Baldwin playing John DeLorean, and others such as Morena Baccarin, Josh Charles and Dean Winters filling other important roles.

It's a storytelling affect that is as original and as bold as DeLorean himself. We not only get several "re-enactment" scenes with these actors depicting important moments in John's life, but we get several "meta" moments of the actors, like Baldwin, attempting and pondering what it must have been like to to exist inside DeLorean's head. For what it's worth, these moments of introspection give credence to the dramatized scenes, making them more effective than your standard "re-enactments."

And while the career of John DeLorean and the creation of his company is quite interesting, nothing compares you to what happens next. Stated by DeLorean's son Zach in the documentary, "It's got cocaine, hot chicks, sports cars, blown-up buildings, Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, FBI Agents, hard-core drug dealers..." Do I have your attention now? (Note: Zach DeLorean, being interviewed as himself throughout this movie, is about as funny a documentary subject has ever been...you can tell that he inherited much of his father's chutzpah, and is worth the price of admission alone).

"Framing John DeLorean" is of course a double-entendre: On one hand it refers to DeLorean's controversial run-in with federal agents that led to his downfall. On the other, it refers to the elusiveness of this compelling man and the filmmaker's attempt to boil him down. Depending on how you frame the story, or who's telling it, or at what point in his life is being examined, John DeLorean is a villain, a hero, a crook and a savior. In other words, he's the absolutely perfect subject for a movie.

Grade: A-

Genre: Documentary.
Run Time: 1 hour 49 minutes.
Unrated.

Starring: Alec Baldwin, Morena Baccarin, Josh Charles, Jason Jones, Dana Ashbrook, Dean Winters.

Directed Don Argott and Sheena M. Joyce ("Believer," "11/8/16," "Batman & Bill").

"Framing John DeLorean" is opening in limited-release on Friday, June 14th, 2019.