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Random Movie: Catfish (2010)


Written by: PBF

Catfish caught a lot of flack for being a fake documentary, an allegation the filmmakers deny. Whether or not it is real, is irrelevant. If it is, great. If not, then it was an excellent choice by the filmmakers to shoot it in the style of a documentary.

Brothers Nev and Ariel Schulman, as well as Henry Joost share an office in New York. They are photographers and filmmakers (Henry and Ariel directed this film). One of Nev’s photographs is published and he then receives a painting of it from Abby, an 8 year old girl from Michigan. This leads to a “friendship” via Facebook. Eventually, Rev also becomes Facebook friends with her mother Angela and father Vince, as well as her sister Megan and brother Alex. Soon he speaks to Angela and Megan on the phone and begins a sort of romantic relationship with Megan. She sends him songs, they exchange messages and phone calls. An out of town assignment (and some chicanery) lead the 3 to travel to Michigan to pay visit Megan and her family. More information than this will completely ruin the experience of watching this film. In fact, the less you know about it, the better it will be.

This film is a bit remarkable. What should be (and I feared it was going to be for a second) a rather boring tale unravels into a very interesting, perfectly assembled and intriguing story, true or not. It has poignancy, humor, sadness that will invade you and yet make a smile creep to the corner of your mouth as you sit in that sadness. What’s even more impressive is you don’t even see it coming. Even if you may know the specifics of the “plot,” you cannot resist the humanity.

There are scenes in this film that cannot possibly be fake. Again, the story may be fabricated, and the film may use actual footage or interviews not relating to the story, but there are some very real, very touching moments. There is a scene (and really not that important of a scene at all) where Rev is talking to Abby in her room. There is nothing special at all in this scene, but watching Abby is fascinating. It is a very short scene, but watching her just do what little kids do (jumping on a mattress, speaking like an 8 year old) adds an exponential amount of heaviness to the ever surprising story. There are other scenes like this that evoke a significant emotional investment as the film concludes.

Because this is a documentary, we know as much as the filmmakers do, and never more. This makes the mundane seem almost exciting, as they try to piece together a mystery that would bore the shit out of the CSI crowd.

Very unassuming film. I wouldn’t call it genius, but I can tell you, there was not one thing in it that I didn’t care for. It is just good.

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