Before the End: Searching for Jim Morrison documentary review:

    How do I start this? I have a lot of feelings on this specific documentary. So much so that I actually started a blog space to air out my frustrations and annoyances about said documentary.
Let me start off by addressing that there will be spoilers in this post, so if you haven't seen it and you don't want to be spoiled. Stop reading now.

    I was utterly disappointed by this documentary. I feel it was such a let down, and that in itself creates it's own level of sadness. Anyone who knows me well, and has known me for a period of time will tell you that I am a huge Jim Morrison Fan. I was introduced to him when I was in high school by my sisters boyfriend at the time. (I still to this day wish I could sit down with him and thank him for the introduction.) I have read most of the books that are on the market and have really dived into his life and legacy. So, to be this disappointed should tell you something. Also given I could enjoy a documentary on toilet paper.

    This documentary actually started out with highs and lows. Some of the choices in colors, graphics and music left little to be desired, but that is the least of my qualms. Given that I will not be discussing that in this post. This documentary follows a chopped up and pieced story following a man given the name "Frank X" to avoid giving away his identity. (The job was poorly done as the creator Jeff Finn gives you the tools to find this poor gentleman's Facebook if you pay enough attention.) This gentleman does share an uncanny resemblance to Jim Morrison, and I will give credit where it is due here. However, Jim had blue eyes and Frank X has brown. Another difference is Jim had a mole on the side of his face close to his nose. Frank X has no such mole and Jeff Finn writes this up as "there is a slight scar" on the same side of Frank X nose. "He could have removed it." Now look, I will take a bone thrown at me for quite a while if it's a good conspiracy and again, I will give credit where it is due. Is there a possibility Jim faked his death and decided to get colored contacts and chop his mole off? I do believe so. If you had the money and the want to get away from the spotlight bad enough, I imagine people would do a lot of things to change their appearance. Where I started to take issue with this documentary (I'm going to save you from every little detail) was around the last 30 minute mark at the end of the last episode of the series. Jeff went as far as to steal Frank's drinking glass from a restaurant, while Frank went out to smoke a cigarette so that he could get DNA testing on said glass to see if it matches Jim's finger prints or DNA. Umm.. excuse me? That is a different level of appalling in my personal opinion. To add an extra layer to this, Jeff also states while interviewing Rick, "when I thought you were Jim." while then cutting to scenes of him still running DNA testing and circumstantial evidence against him. Even at the end of all of the DNA testing, he still chose to not let the possibility of Frank X being Jim go. All the while, also making this poor elderly man believe that he did not think he was even Jim at the time of the interview.

 This documentary does have new interviews with those who were close to Jim. Those giving new insight on his life, childhood and death. The interviews were the most enjoyable part of this documentary for me, personally. I do think Jeff did get more answers than we as a society have had in a very long time, specifically around this topic of Jim faking his death. I applaud Jeff for his time, efforts and the financial risks he took to be able to get all of these interviews. But unfortunately by the end, just more exploit. He decides to take the images of Frank X and show some of Jim's ex girlfriends (as a surprise) these images, and you can tell he wants a big "OMG IT'S JIM!" type of response. He didn't really get that. He did however get some emotions from one of the woman specifically. Not only has he exploited an elderly man who most likely did not know his interview would be used against him for the narrative that he actually may be Jim, but he also involves these elderly women who had relationships and emotion's towards Jim, and showed them images of a man who happens to just look like Jim. That is all Jeff truly has with the connection of Jim and Frank X. They happen to look alike.

    My last major complaint with this documentary is, as someone who is an avid Jim Morrison fan, and also learning that Jeff Finn clearly has been a lifelong fan as well. I wonder to myself...If Frank X just happened to be Jim Morrison, why drag him back into the public eye by putting him in a documentary that is over multiple platforms? If Frank X is Jim, did Jeff Finn even care about the fact that he would be single handedly helping to unravel the silent life Jim left to spotlight to lead? What would have been the purpose to record all of this and exploit this gentleman? To prove he was able to chip away and get to the truth even at the expense of a privacy someone went to great lengths to have. Someone who would by now in his 80's and elderly and most likely uninterested in the public life?

I don't understand how an avid fan would go to these measures. 

    Now, onto what I did like and found intriguing about the documentary. Jeff claims he has hired a private investigator to help with research on the case. The hired private investigator admits to finding information that Jim  Morrison's social security number is still active to that date of filming. An active social security number 50 years later? Now that is interesting! Jeff also interviews other's who stone face state that they "know the secret" and you will not pull it out of them. I find both of these things to be interesting enough to continue to follow what Jeff is doing on the side of research and interviews. I do believe that there is mystery surrounding Jim's death. I also believe he could have faked his death, or perhaps passed away in the night club or that bathroom. There are so many possibilities that leave me just as curious as most.

    I do plan to continue to loosely follow Jeff's work. I just hope moving forward he will let go of some of the hyper fixation on Frank X and focus more on interviews and investigations as I do think those methods have proved to be prosperous for him.