Arriving in a market practically gorged with tongue-in-cheek faux documentaries, it's initially difficult to take "Catfish" at face value. Maybe the best introduction I can offer is that I really liked it. This is a film where palpable suspense cedes way to an unconventional and thought- provoking character study. In fact, the outcome of this social networking mystery is rather straightforward, but no less brilliant for it. Expectations should probably be mediated, however-"Catfish" isn't going to blow your mind. The sensationalist trailer gives a deliberately one-sided peek at a film which is ultimately defined by its ending. "Catfish" is a difficult film to talk about without spoiling. They pretend to deliver insight on only one side of this. The drive in both cases is the same: to make a good enough story to hold a situation that selfishly sustains. There is manipulation and deception on both sides here. I can understand this, but we have to be fair. They got lucky in some respects, but in others they made conscious decisions to extend the the story for the film's sake. In this case, these three guys knew the Facebook character was fake, and decided to exploit it. The structure inserts the reporter as a key agent in the story, making it all but impossible to not be overtly manipulative. This kind of documentary is becoming more common now, and that's too bad because it is a hard form to manage. What we cannot allow is the deeper deception from the other side, the side of the filmmakers. All of us can relate in some degree to the deep loneliness of a simple kind and the equally simple need for escape via fantasy. how he gently confronts her, discovers her desperate existence and gets a tearful apology. Taken at face value, this is a documentary about how a young photographer was deceived by a lonely housewife.
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