Critic Roger Ebert summarized '' Just , Melvin '' as a " lacerating portrait of a monster , " while praising Whitney 's documenting of his own family : " His film is not only devastating but subtle in its artistry , with great attention to a soundtrack that suggests the echoes of long-ago words of hate and current painful memories . Nothing in the film quite prepares us for the closing scenes at a burial service , where a pastor reads futile words of comfort while drunken family members alternate between grief and rage . " Michael Carlson , writing for '' The Daily Telegraph '' , praised the film despite its shocking content . " Yet , for all its shocks , '' Just , Melvin '' is not a work of morbid depression or a confessional freak show . It is , rather , a challenging film that reveals the real cost of abuse but , also , the deep strength of familial love . " David Zurawik of '' The Baltimore Sun '' wrote that HBO should be commended for daring to air such a graphic documentary right after its hit Sunday night show , '' The Sopranos '' : " The kind of incest and stepchild molestation this film explores is exactly the kind of ugly secret too many of us are all too happy to ignore in the name of propriety , while innocent victims not only have their childhood violated but also their ability to enjoy their adult lives destroyed . This is the kind of documentary that is behind HBO winning all those Emmy , Oscar and Peabody awards . " Emanuel Levy , reviewing '' Just , Melvin '' for '' Variety '' , was more critical , writing that the documentary was less engaging than it could have been due to its " remote " tone . He wrote , " Scandalous testimony relates how Melvin was paying the girls from 25 cents to one dollar , depending on the depth of penetration , and how he forced them to get ' training ' by using crayons and hot dogs . However shocking such disclosures are , they 're often presented in a manner that diminishes their emotional effect . Overall , this richly detailed docu suffers from an unnecessarily cluttered structure , which makes it difficult to unravel the family links among its numerous victims . " '' Just , Melvin : Just Evil '' was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival and the " Truer Than Fiction Award " at the Independent Spirit Awards . It won awards at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival , South Beach Film Festival , Vancouver International Film Festival and Newport Beach Film Festival
Vancouver International Film Festival
Vancouver International Film Festival
Just, Melvin: Just Evil