Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Can I Tell You a Secret?:
The secret is that you should skip this.
Quick synopsis:
The story of a series of harassment cases against women on social media in the UK.
Fact for Non-History People:
None.
Fact for History Nerds:
Still none.
My Take on Can I Tell You a Secret?:
Can I Tell You a Secret does something rather impressive. It is both too long and also doesn’t give a lot of details about the crime which are readily available! In short, I am mad I can’t get the two hours of my life back.
The documentary’s first episode looks at the horrific harassment of 3 women via social media and other phone apps. Let’s be clear, the perpetrator tried to destroy their lives and you feel deeply for these women even if you are the type to look down on people who put their lives on social media.
The victims are not the problem. The problem is repeated imagery that has nothing to do with the crimes. There is so much fluff of power lines and a masked criminal. Also, the first episode (of two) is just the victims reciting the criminal’s litany of terrible acts. It gets repetitive. Right until the end when it seems like a google gets the criminal’s name. Or when the dude just says his real name while harassing one of the women. Yes, he just says it.
Episode two feels horribly rushed. Apparently, there is a police officer who moves heaven and earth. I mean I assume so. The doc has no interest in digging into exactly what he had to do and how hard it was. There are also other victims of the perp who were harassed for years longer than the victims of the first episode. It made me wonder why they get so much less screentime. I had so many questions that never got answered.
You get the feeling whoever made this wanted to do the least amount of work possible to fill 2 hours and get this on Netflix.
Verdict:
Skip.
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