For many families in the sprawling suburbs of Los Angeles, an idyllic, peaceful middle-class existence is just a facade. What lies beneath is the unseen domestic turmoil: teens addicted to drugs, breaking the law and engaging in violent outbursts—and parents at their wits end. Interventionists, like Evan “Bullet” James and Dana “Hodges” Goller, specialize in entering these suburban homes in the night and ripping troubled teens from their beds to transport them, against their will, to a reform school in Utah. Just the Right Amount of Violence, crafted in John Bang Carlsen’s signature dramatized vérité style, combines elements of documentary and fictional interpretations to create an indelible and emotionally gripping portrait of families in crisis. Carlsen also inserts himself into the narrative, reflecting on his own troubled relationship with his father. Carlsen’s film overall seeks to highlight the tension between artifice and reality, where truth can be found.