Friday, October 7, 2011

Movie Review: Catfish

The movie Catfish is supposedly based on real events (though this is disputed [1]). It starts with a New York photographer, Nev Schulman, who receives a painting in the mail based on a photograph he recently published. The painting was done by an eight-year-old girl, named Abby. Astonished by the artistry of her painting, he strikes up a friendship with her through Facebook. Eventually he becomes friends with her Mom, Angela, and her older sister, Megan. Nev is quite taken with how beautiful Megan is and begins an online courtship. But then strange things start happening and Nev starts noticing inconsistencies in their stories.

My verdict: This movie was bizarre and the mysteries weren't hard to guess. One of the characters has a severe problem with lying. Even when she's caught, she makes up new lies. And yet the way that she is presented you can only feel pity for her. Even though her life has meaning, she cannot see it and feels that she is slowly drowning in it. So she tries to make her life more interesting by concocting elaborate lies. Once my empathy for this character had been realized, though, I saw little else of value in this film, so I see no need to ever watch it again. The title of the movie is odd, but once you learn the story behind it, it's rather poignant. Be warned that one of the telephone conversations between Nev and Megan are lewd.


Notes:

[1] See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catfish (film)#Authenticity questioned.

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