Kurt Kuenne makes recorded memories feel immediate and personal. We recommend Dear Zachary for the care he gives its interviewees, with a warning: his cutting and music sometimes push an already painful film too hard.
Fi1m perspective
In Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008), home footage, photographs and spoken memories arrive in quick succession. Kurt Kuenne is remembering his friend Andrew Bagby, and he makes each contribution feel urgent. We recommend the film for the people he brings before us and the attention he pays to their recollections, despite his tendency to push too hard.
His first feature was the teenage drama Scrapbook (1999), followed by a documentary film in 2001. The black-and-white short comedy Validation (2007) brought him together with actor T.J. Thyne, who also starred in the fantasy mystery Shuffle (2012). These are useful reminders that personal documentary is only one part of his work. He frequently writes, shoots, edits and scores as well as directing, though he does not always keep every job for himself. On Batkid Begins (2015), directed by Dana Nachman, he was co-writer and editor.
In Dear Zachary, the interviews work best when Kuenne gives us time to listen. As cinematographer, he keeps attention on the speakers rather than making their testimony look impressive. As editor, he assembles archive material and memories skilfully, but can hurry us past something we are still trying to absorb. As composer, he supplies music that feels less necessary when the voices carry so much feeling on their own, and we wanted him to trust them more.
We were deeply moved by David and Kathleen Bagby’s interviews, because their love for their son remains clear through their distress. Andrew’s parents give the film its strongest reason to keep watching, even when the surrounding account gets crowded. Kuenne is right to give them such attention; our objection is to the extra pressure he places on testimony that already holds us. Begin with Dear Zachary, but be prepared for a painful evening.
Biography
Kurt Kuenne is an American filmmaker and composer. Born on 24 October 1973 in Mountain View, California, he graduated from the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, where he received the Harold Lloyd Scholarship in Film Editing, and studied film scoring under Buddy Baker and David Raksin.
His early feature films include the teen drama Scrapbook (1999) and the documentary Drive-In Movie Memories (2001). He directed the short films Rent-A-Person (2004), Validation (2007), Slow (2007) and The Phone Book (2008). In 2002 he won an Academy Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting for the screenplay Mason Mule.
Kuenne is best known for the documentary Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008), on which he served as director, writer, composer, cinematographer, editor and producer. He has also directed episodes of the television series The Blacklist (2013–) and the feature Shuffle (2012).
