The Imposter (2012 film)

I realize that I haven't been posting much, and that's because I've been working 60+ hours a week. In my down time I've been getting together with my friends to watch lots and lots of films. So I'll start writing about them every once in whenever the fuck I feel like it.

The first is:

The Imposter (2012)

This British documentary had me holding my head, asking "how the hell did all this happen?"

The fact that these events took place blows my mind.

In 1994, a Texas boy named Nicholas Barclay went missing. In 1997, a man named Frédéric Bourdin, who was seven years older than Nicholas should have been, came in and pretended to be him.

What is so unbelievably screwed up is that Nicholas's family accepts him and keeps up the charade. His eye color is wrong, his hair color is wrong, his accent is wrong-and the family wants him to fit in.

I enjoyed this immensely-it is more compelling than most documentaries. Obviously most of the footage is re-enacted, but they have both Bourdin, Barclay's family, and officials speaking to the camera. If you look into the case of the missing boy, it might make you wonder about what really happened. Because it is real, it makes me sad to remember the reality is that a 13-year-old boy is missing and there is no confirmed explanation for his disappearance.  

If you like documentaries that are actually interesting and make you question how such fuckery can exist in the world, I highly recommend the 2012 documentary The Imposter.    

Catfish Review

Spoiler Free!

A little while ago I was watching a DVD (might have been Paranormal Activity 2) with someone and the previews for Catfish came on. We both thought it looked pretty cool-documentary style (more on that in a minute) horror about meeting someone you met online in real-life. I had my fingers crossed for the person to be a serial killer. 

The previews lied-it's not a horror movie. It's a...sad but sometimes funny film.

Painting of Abby's mother, Angela.

Yaniv (Nev) Schulman

   

It starts with Yaniv (Nev) Schulman getting a painting in the mail from a little girl named Abby, who is a prodigy artist. This painting, of one of his photographs of two dancers, sets off a pen-pal relationship. It's very cute and lovely. And then social networking becomes involved. Everything is peachy and he begins to friend all of Abby's family, including Angela, her mother, and Megan, her sister.

Message from Meg

Things roll along and he and Meg become close. They've never met at this point. Things get more involved. They start to fall in love.

And then he catches her in a lie. And another. And a few more. He doesn't know how to feel anymore, so he decides to go meet her, face to face. After all, he has feelings for her still.

The reveal was pretty good, I'll give it that.

Documentary?

Some quick Googling will bring up some different opinions about the authenticity of this film. To me, I don't particularly believe that it is real. That three friends would start filming the pre-stages to the entire relationship, the moments with Abbey and her paintings, doesn't make much sense to me. Does it really matter? I still enjoyed it with my doubt.

Final Verdict

It was a pretty good film. Had the warm and fuzzies, sadness, and some funny moments. If you like soft drama documentaries I recommend it. For me, it was a good, non-serious movie to watch. I certainly wouldn't buy it, but worth the watch.