Louis Theroux: My Scientology Movie

Louis Theroux: My Scientology Movie is a clever mix of documentary and docudrama, intermingling the performance of Scientology in Hollywood with Louis Theroux's obvious charm and flair for awkward confrontation.

The Church of Scientology refused to participate in Theroux's film, although are visible keeping an all-seeing eye on proceedings (they follow and photograph Theroux and crew) — so in the film, Theroux casts his own Church, calling upon the expertise of former senior church official Mark Rathbun and other ex-Scientologists to find the best actor to play the church's leader David Miscavige, and celebrity acolyte Tom Cruise. It's a clever idea that plays out in an interesting way, illuminating the Hollywood side of a brutal (non-)Church.

Meanwhile, Rathbun talks to Theroux about his former life, taking him to Scientology headquarters, and Theroux asks the very questions Rathbun doesn't want to answer. Theroux gives a firm shrug to camera when his subject responds poorly. He is a disarming journalist, looking to know the people he speaks to, all the while carefully stumbling upon truths at once confronting and powerful. He has a way of plying his subjects for information that seems warm and forgiving, even while not letting up on questions of Rathbun's own culpability in Scientology's shady practices.

It's not a perfect documentary (Alex Gibney's Going Clear feels like a far more thorough investigation), but you'll enjoy yourself if you like Theroux and are interested in a documentary that's a little more playful.

Louis Theroux: My Scientology Movie is playing in selected cinemas now.