''The Synanon Fix'' is an American

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

series directed and produced by

Rory Kennedy Rory Elizabeth Katherine Kennedy (born December 12, 1968) is an American documentary filmmaker. Kennedy has made documentary films that center on social issues such as addiction, her Anti-nuclear movement, opposition to nuclear power, the treatm ...

. It explores the rise and fall of

Synanon Synanon, originally known as Tender Loving Care, was a new religious movement founded in 1958 by Charles E. "Chuck" Dederich Sr. in Santa Monica, California, United States. Originally established as a drug rehabilitation program, Synanon develop ...

, told through the eyes of former members, into its descent into a cult. It had its world premiere at the

2024 Sundance Film Festival The 2024 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 18 to 28, 2024. The first lineup of competition films was announced on December 6, 2023. Among the highlighted events included the premiere of a documentary about the 1980s rock band Dev ...

on January 21, 2024. It premiered on April 1, 2024, on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

Premise

Explores the rise and fall of

, told through the eyes of former members, into its descent into a cult.

Episodes

Production

and Mark Bailey wanted to make a documentary revolving around

, after looking at communities and charismatic leaders, wondering how people come to these places, and the relevancy of the story in modern day with the false sense of community. The two came across Synanon through the book '' Straight Life: The Story of Art Pepper'' by

Art Pepper Arthur Edward Pepper Jr. (September 1, 1925 – June 15, 1982) was an American jazz musician, most known as an alto saxophonist. He occasionally performed and recorded on tenor saxophone, clarinet (his first instrument) and bass clarinet. Active ...

. Initially, the

archive declined the filmmakers access; after discussing their intentions with Dederich's daughter, they were granted access three weeks prior to the series being pictured locked.

allowed the filmmakers to go through the archive, which included 35,000 photos and 3,000 hours of archive video footage. In August 2022, it was announced

would direct a documentary revolving around Synanon for

HBO Documentary Films HBO Documentary Films is an American production and distribution company and a division of the cable television network HBO that produces non-fiction feature films and miniseries. The division releases between 10 and 15 documentaries per year fo ...

Reception

Critical reception

Eve Batey of ''Reality Blurred'' praised the series approach and lack of misdirection and dead-end tropes, writing: "She somehow manages, through intelligently paced interviews with former members and archival footage, to place us in the same shoes as people who were in the cult, slowly turning up the heat until we realize we started to accept the unacceptable." Brian Tallerico of ''

RogerEbert.com ''RogerEbert.com'' is an American film review website that archives reviews written by film critic Roger Ebert for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' and also shares other critics' reviews and essays. The website, underwritten by the ''Chicago Sun-Times ...

'' gave the series a 2.5 out of 4, praising Kennedy's interviewing skills, criticizing the pacing and length of the series, writing: "The Synanon Fix” isn’t the right length—it would have made an excellent feature documentary as the first couple episodes take too long to get to the downfall era of Synanon, but there’s something powerful about the sheer bulk of the hard-to-believe stories of a group that felt problematic from the beginning."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Synanon Fix HBO original programming HBO documentary films 2024 American television series debuts 2024 American television series endings Television series about cults 2020s American documentary television series Television series by Home Box Office