Risk (2016)

Risk is Laura Poitras's latest documentary about Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. She has been filming Assange since 2011, before she started work on Citizenfour as well as after. And this is where I got a little confused. From watching Citizenfour, I understood that Edward Snowden reached out to her because of her previous work on the Iraq War. But I'm not so sure about that anymore. Did Snowden know about her Assange project and is that why he contacted her? Did Assange actually connect her with Snowden? What was so incredible about Citizenfour was that she was in that Hong Kong hotel room in the moment. Was it luck? Not exactly, but it was certainly fortuitous. Here, she has an incredible amount of access to Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy, but it is not quite as eventful and thrilling as Citizenfour. Perhaps it is unfair to compare though. This film has lots of merits. It really is an excellent and insightful documentary. Less confined, Poitras's camerawork is more developed. She composes her shots well and builds tension and anger. She asks her audience to question the government. She has proven herself to be one of this generation's most important filmmakers, indispensable. And after seeing her retrospective exhibit at the Whitney Museum earlier this year, I could fully appreciate her sacrifice and efforts.

There is a scene in the film that is an interview between Lady Gaga and Julian Assange. It is an awkward celebrity cameo that I certainly didn't see coming. But it is a bit of much needed comic relief to release some of the tension. And Lady Gaga is fabulous as always.