After 23 years on death row, convicted murderer Nick Yarris petitions the court for his own execution. What led him to this point? Part one-man show, part confessional, this darkly gripping experiment in storytelling allows Yarris, a consummate raconteur, to weave his own twisting tale of crime, prison life, and the failures of justice. Eschewing chronology and withholding information to dramatic effect, director David Sington combines Yarris’s monologue with moody, impressionistic images, toeing a hazy line between fact and fiction. Yarris claims his innocence and details a series of disappointments, mishaps, and missteps that have kept him behind bars. But can we believe the highly theatrical, performative account of an autodidact whose devotion to reading has made him an expert in narrative tropes? Spellbinding and suspenseful, The Fear of 13 takes countless unexpected turns—culminating with a gut-punch of a reveal—to tell a story of hope, loss, and redemption.  EM