Hammerman Ikon

Hammerman Ikon Film Guide

Icarus
2017
***
Director: Bryan Fogel
Cast:

Bryan Fogel is a filmmaker and an avid amateur cyclist who decides to use performance-enhancing drugs on camera. He consults Grigory Rodchenkov, the head of the Russian anti-doping laboratory, who plans the doping programme and helps him pass the tests. Fogel's personal experiment turns into an international drama when Rodchenkov's role in Russia's state-run doping programme becomes global news. This is a captivating but flawed documentary. Rodchenkov is a clever and very entertaining character, but Vogel's close personal friendship with his subject blurs the film's objectivity. In the second half, the director turns the mastermind of the doping programme into a hapless victim. An Academy Award winner for Best Documentary Feature.