I Am Heath Ledger (2017)

Grab those tissues, you’re going to need ’em! Watching the home movies made by Heath Ledger and hearing his family and friends talk about him is heart-wrenching in doccie I Am Heath Ledger (stream it here on Showmax).

He’s been dead for over 12 years but it feels like yesterday Heath played gay cowboy Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain and The Joker in The Dark Knight. This doccie isn’t meant to be a superficial, pretend-everything-was-perfect production. Heath died from a drug overdose. He had flaws. But he was 28, a loving dad and entering the prime of his career.

It’s made by Derik Murray, who has a somewhat dodgy reputation, but this was made with care. Everyone from Heath’s parents to his co-stars are interviewed and the love is genuine. The only people not here are his babymama Michelle Williams and their daughter Matilda.

“However sad you already were about his death, you’re about to get a whole lot sadder. However much you appreciated his work and marvelled at his potential, you’re about to grow even more convinced that he was just scratching at the surface,” reviews David Ehrlich from Indiewire.com.

What really makes this doccie is the home video footage filmed by Heath. It’s him, when no one else is there, where he could do what he loved: making movies.