Scène de crime : La disparue du Cecil Hotel

Netflix démontre encore une fois son flair pour une matière « true crime » digne d’une adaptation. Le thème de l’épisode, La Disparue du Cecil Hotel, se tient à lui tout seul et glace les sangs la plupart du temps. Mais cette fois-ci, une infirmité importante des séries modernes apparaît de façon flagrante, à savoir que le contenu remplit à peine la moitié du format, le reste étant du remplissage artificiel. Personnellement, j’avais toujours l’impression d’avoir deux longueurs d’avance ; chaque fois que je me posais une question de logique méritant une réponse immédiate, la minisérie prenait son temps et n’y répondait qu’à l’épisode suivant. Autrement dit, toute l’énigme pourrait être résolue dans le cadre d’un unique documentaire long métrage ou, au maximum, d’une série en deux parties, sans que le spectateur ne soit aucunement appauvri. Malheureusement, Netflix a besoin de faire du volume et on se retrouve donc avec un documentaire déraisonnablement étendu, ce dont on se serait bien passés. (14/02/2021)

A new documentary series from Netflix touting the infamous Hotel Cecil, known as a hotbed of violence and death. The hotel has been the stage of several suicides and murders here, and drugs, prostitution, and even the Night Stalker lived there. It is very disappointing that the series focuses on the disappearance of Elisa Lam the whole time. I found it relatively entertaining in the first two episodes, but after four episodes, it begins to repeat itself and becomes a bit boring. The case is interesting as long as you know nothing about it, but in the end, when you find out the truth, you realise that it's not as interesting and creepy as you hoped. I would much rather see the various murders and suicides that took place in the hotel, or even the Skid Row next to it, with homeless people and crime being a daily occurrence, which I found more interesting than the whole Elisa Lam case. It's a shame, the series touts something different than it actually is. It would definitely benefit from being shortened by one episode. 6/10. (11/02/2021)

I think this is a fairly smartly put together true crime documentary that at the end of each episode has the viewer exactly where it wants them. It guides us through the stupid internet conspiracy theories spawned by this case and, in the light of all those weird coincidences and mysteries, it makes you wonder whether there actually isn’t something supernatural or an insane conspiracy behind it. The youtubers and other influencers are fair game, of course, and fortunately, in the fourth episode the documentary uses them to make a point: that the real problem is that today every uneducated moron has an opinion about everything and is not afraid to use the internet to share it. Poor Death Metal fan. (11/02/2021)