User Reviews

1/9/18. Juan Catalan was lucky he went to see the Dodgers at the stadium. He was lucky the Curb Your Enthusiasm crew was filming an episode at the stadium that caught him on camera. He was lucky the phone company tracked his cellphone calls so he could be located on the grid. Lucky, lucky, lucky. Makes you wonder what would have happened to poor Juan if he wasn't this lucky.

An award-winning, short but to-the-point Netflix documentary exposing yet another example of inept, lazy or at worst prejudicial policing in America, depending on your point of view. Personally, I've lately seen so many mini-series and movies on similar miscarriages of justice, that I think I know which way I'm leaning.

Here, a young Latin-American male, called Juan Catalan, admittedly with a previous, though long time ago criminal record and blood-connected to an older brother with a more serious criminal history, finds himself being charged with the execution-like murder of a 16 year old young woman who was a witness to a crime. The proof presented by two of L. A.'s finest mainly centres on a witness who recollects the presence of a man of similar appearance in the vicinity of the crime scene at the time of the deed. The police pair then concoct a motive, so that when they forcibly take him downtown and charge him, it's clear they're looking for a quick confession and easy conviction.

Given that the slaying took place some time previously, the young man and his girlfriend struggle to remember his exact whereabouts at the time, but then he remembers he attended a baseball match with his young daughter that very night. But how to prove his story adds up? Enter the long arm of coincidence, when, as it transpires, that very night, the popular TV show, "Curb Your Enthusiasm" was filming a scene on location in the same baseball stadium at the very time and almost the same place the defendant claimed to have been there. Is it just possible that the man and his daughter might be in the background of the TV footage, to give credence to his alibi in defence?

One suspects this programme could have easily been extended to two or three episodes to more thoroughly investigate the doings of the two blinkered detectives and the wider implications of a possibly racially-motivated arrest. I didn't really appreciate either the massive close-ups of the interviewees and thought maybe too much credit was afforded to Larry David for his accidental part in helping clear the young man as well as the way he then milks it. Neither of the two offending cops is punished too much, at least so it seemed to me, for his zeal / bias although at least the city of Los Angeles did make a cash settlement to Mr Catalan in mitigation of his mistreatment.

Perhaps even extended by one episode, I do think that this nevertheless revealing documentary could have been made even more effective, but at least the cameras were there to expose yet another glaringly obvious travesty of justice in America, where an innocent young man could have been serving life imprisonment for a crime he didn't commit. In fact, four gangland youths were later apprehended and once convicted, duly received that very sentence leaving as ever, the abiding thought as to how many other innocents currently find themselves in prison or worse, are on death row, under similarly contrived charges. Answers on a postcard please to the U. S. Justice Secretary...

I'm so used to the subjects of these documentaries still being in jail fighting. Which I assume the purpose of the films is to bring attention to their cases. I figured this would be the same. I was so angry through the first half and had little tears of joy by the second. But I honestly think the cell phone tower could've been enough to have his charges dismissed. Good story though

I think we all get really upset when we find out an innocent man is convicted of a crime. The upset many times turns to outrage if the innocent party has been railroaded by law enforcement. I think most folks who never have any first hand contact with such have believed this almost never happens. Since the proliferation of a diverse number of real crime related shows this perception has been totally blown up.. There has been a whole generation of law enforcement who use very questionable tactics in order to achieve outcomes pre-determined must be. It's easy to blame "bad cops", but it's a generational thing that has morphed into what it is by being handed down to younger officers with only the admonition that it was successful before. One wonders if not for many innocently convicted people ultimately being exonerated through DNA and various other methods if this abuse would have just festered further?

Something else...science has now proved eye-witness testimony to be deeply flawed even immediately after an event and much more flawed over even modest amounts of time. This is how Juan Catalan came to be arrested for a murder for which he couldn't have possibly committed as he was no where near the actual murder scene. Police were totally convinced Catalan was lying and they chose to attempt to railroad him into admitting to a crime he did not do which he steadfastly denied. The zeal of the police should have at the least been professionally tempered as they came to believe Calalan was the killer just from a questionable witness and composite picture. The zeal only fed off the zeal of the prosecutor who had never lost a murder case. All of this made it look as if Catalan was heading for a conviction and a possible death sentence.

Sometimes justice is served against long odds. It often takes a bit of several serendipitous things all aligning. Catalan got a lawyer who zeroed in on proving his client was at a Dodger's game. Thus he needed something close to irrefutable which was proving hard to pin down since out of 57,000 people it becomes hard for strangers to remember strangers. That did not stop the attorney and in his never give up attitude something kind of miraculous happened. When the stadiums film showed Catalan at the game it was too blurry to be convincing beyond doubt things looked hardly better. However on that day there was some other video that existed. So rare was it that it only existed for the day in question only. But could it have what the defense needed?

Larry David's hit HBO show called Curb Your Enthusiasm was taping in the stadium and as it would turn out the very proof Catalan needed to prove Catalan waste the game...it was in the footage for this show. Almost beyond belief Larry David shares filmed frames with Catalan.

The final piece of making the case for Catalan's innocence was the timecode on the film which is the actual time of day. Here's the shocking bottom line: Juan Catalan may well be in prison for the rest of his life if not for the show Curb Your Enthusiasm. But wait...the time code wasn't late enough to absolutely and irrefutably put Catalan at the Dodger's game late enough Enter cell phone pinging. This will end up corroborating Catalan's presence at the stadium late enough to be convincing. So glad justice was righted here. But, we should all be outraged and incensed as the mechanism of justice isn't suppose to be pure chance. Things still must change to raise the quality of the entire justice system from the moment the badge goes on the the final sound of the gavel in the courtroom.

First I applaud the judge as her weighing of the truth was impeccable and 100% moral. I admonish the prosecutor and the detectives as they went with flawed evidence and pushed it to the extreme. We need more people in the chain of law like this wonderful judge and the unflappable and truth committed defense attorney. I finally give the makers of this documentary my highest praise. They made a dark turn of events into a very informative and entertaining film with an ending that was uplifting. See Long Shot!

"Long Shot" is an American 40-minute documentary from September 2017, so this one is only about a month old and has made quite some waves already that you could say that this Netflix production is among the earliest contenders for the 2018 Best Documentary Short Oscar. It was directed by Jacob LaMendola and tells the story of Juan Catalan who was accused of murdering a witness from his brother's trial through a shot to the head. And while early on, there is still a bit of an element of suspense, the longer it runs the more obvious it becomes that he did not commit said crime. His alibi is that he was at a baseball game when it happened and what a coincidence that the hit show Curb Your Enthusiasm was just filming there and got him on tape to confirm his alibi. Phone recordings help his matter too.

I personally enjoyed the watch here from start to finish. It may not have made the emotional impact on me as it made on others, but that's just subjective I guess. And who knows maybe he'd even have been acquitted had he stayed at home. I maybe would have hoped for a more in-depth explanation about why he would have killed the lady in the first place. They never really offer a motive, on the contrary actually as it doesn't sound like her testimony was crucial against the brother. Anyway, it's hard for me to believe the protagonist here could have been convicted based on a drawing that looks like him and honestly a small patch of chin hair just cannot be enough. I guess they would have included that if it had been a 90-minute film we got here. But yeah, it is a lot shorter and if you didn't know already: Larry David can save your life. What a coincidence. Makes me curious about the new CYE season that will be released soon. But back to these 40 minutes here: I think you may want to check these out as it is a fairly interesting story that they elaborate on in here. I give it a thumbs-up.

This is another chilling indictment on the foolishness of our legal system. While you may have seen other docs on the subject, I dare you find a more stupid moment than when a judge discusses showing interrogation footage to her children and asks them for their opinion on the sincerity of the accused. Just roll a dice or flip a coin, it would be more "fair."

The term 'Miscarriage of Justice' seems to have been invented to fit this case: Juan Catalan was arrested, charged with murder, held for 5 months then arraigned for the murder. Luckily Juan had a good defense attorney. The attorney discovered that the day when the murder occurred, Juan and his daughter were at the Dodgers/Braves baseball game. The attorney was able to prove this because an episode of HBO's 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' was being filmed at the game. When the attorney checked the outtakes, Juan and his daughter were seen at the game. But even more, Juan successfully sued the police department for police misconduct and won.

This genuinely had me with tears in my eyes at the end. I have a 6 year old at the time of writing this and can't imagine what this guy went through. I'm a huge fan of curb your enthusiasm as well! Loved this short form Documentary and this hit all the right notes in terms of telling an amazing story.