David O'ConnellCatfish
January 27th 2011 02:13
What’s this, a documentary about an exotic creature of the sea? Not quite; the seemingly elliptical title remains rooted in ambiguity until the concluding scenes of this innocuous tale of romance embroidered the new fashioned way - via the internet.
In 2007, filmmakers Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman were sharing a New York office with Ariel’s brother Nev, a photographer, when they decided it might be worth their while to visually document the burgeoning relationship between Nev and a talented 8 year old artist named Abby in rural Michigan who has begun sending him an impressive series of detailed paintings of Nev’s photographic work.
Through Facebook a relationship tentatively forms with the family, beginning with the girl’s mother and then her attractive older sister Megan. It’s with Megan that something concrete begins to take hold; she seems like the perfect girl: attractive, sweet and a talented dancer and musician to boot. Too good to be true, surely? Conveniently, she also develops what appears like a reciprocal crush on Nev. Over the phone the pair become even better acquainted before Nev is forced to admit that yes, an unlikely cross-country relationship has truly begun to blossom.
Everything progresses swimmingly for a while, despite them never having set eyes upon one another. Then a strange thing occurs when the Nev is alerted to a first instance of possible fabrication. Surely not? A song emailed by Megan sounds awfully familiar to one of the guys. Sensing that something is awry, Nev becomes curious enough to start Googling songs to track down a possible alternate source for Melissa’s cover versions. This initial lie, though not particularly destructive in its own right, provides the first clue to a deception that has the trio pondering the possibility of deceit on a far broader scale.
Nev as shot by brother Ariel
To sustain their momentum of their story the trio concludes that there’s only one way to satisfy their growing curiosity about Megan and her too-perfect family. They decide to drive to Michigan where they will land on the family’s doorstep unannounced hoping to prod the truth into the light through direct confrontation.
From there its lips sealed as the road trip navigates its way into the heart of the mystery with only their cameras as companions. Do they stumble into the lair of a serial killer, perhaps? Nothing as dramatic as that but their discovery is a mighty strange and compelling one nevertheless. Certain emotional responses are evoked – more than anything, a profound sadness, mostly at the misguided ingenuity that is capable of sustaining an intricate, ever-evolving charade. One has to marvel at the aptness of the metaphor that provides the film with its title too, as well as its unlikely source.
Like the recent Gasland, this isn’t a film you'll admire for its aesthetic beauty. It’s been put together on-the-fly, in a sense, by a couple of guys who clearly had no idea about the significant shape the story would take on in time as it simultaneously became more involving and invaded the privacy of Nev who is asked to bare his thoughts and emotions for the sake of propping up the narrative. The best example of his ingenuousness comes with a very funny, painfully candid recitation of an explicit exchange of texts he's had with Megan.
Whilst structured cleverly enough to engineer genuine intrigue in how deep the conspiracy of this fabricated family lies, Catfish is, at its most potent, a reminder of the darker implications of the internet - and especially the simple access it provides to those capable of subverting their lives through the potential catastrophe of an all-consuming fantasy. But it’s at the gut level that the film resonates finally, for this is one strangely affecting real life story.
Catfish is now showing in Australian cinemas.
| 64 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
Comment by Matt Shea
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
I wonder just how much of it was fabricated to ensure a dramatic doco.
How come the filmmakers just happened to have water-proof cameras at the ready for their surf sequence ...?
I was (quietly) hoping the movie was going to turn into a horror movie when they arrived at the barn! Ha!
I see Aimee Gonzales has done well out of the movie.
Comment by David O'Connell
20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic
That's a great moment when they arrive at the farm in the middle of the night; it really did have the feel of a horror movie! But yeah, very sad tale in the end.