Review of Catfish (2010) by Asif K — 10 Oct 2011

Loved this documentary, it was awsome. The tagline on Catfish's deceptively dark poster read "Don't let anyone tell you what it is." The studio is totally correct in saying this, but make sure everyone tells you how good it is. Catfish is a wild pastiche of genres crammed into a brilliant criticism of the Youtube Generation's presumption that the internet is a safe place. Unlike many other TV shows and newspaper articles that have tackled a similar topic, Catfish takes this criticism to a whole new level by documenting the entire process of catching a "catfish," a person who is not quite what he seems to be. Although the movie should be questioned in terms of its veritableness, it is thrilling, sad, and often funny account of a Facebook romance with a person who does not match their profile.

*Catfish is a hard film to describe without giving too much away. In short, the film's advertising inaccurately portrays the film. It is the supposedly true story of Nev Schulman and his Facebook friend Megan Faccio. Nev, a photographer that lives in New York, met Megan through her half-sister Abby, an eight year-old who sent Nev a painting of one of his photographs that was published in the New York Times. Nev begins to become romantically intertwined with Megan. But the more he finds out about her, the less he realizes he actually knows about Megan.

Catfish had this vibe the entire film like it was leading towards something dark near its conclusion. As Nev makes his way to Michigan, you get more and more anxious as he nears his destination. Even the music gets really unsettling. Is Megan's family going to be a bunch of chainsaw wielding cannibals or have Angela and Vince been keeping a kidnapped girl named Megan chained in their basement for weeks to lead young, single guys out there for them to torture as some sort of twisted way to get off? No, it's nothing like that. Catfish never really became thrilling or even came near diving into dark territory. What Catfish winds up being is an interesting character study presented as a documentary. The film's heart resides in who Megan really is and how the entire experience affects Nev. Once the pieces of the puzzle are put together and everything falls into place, Catfish turns out to be a very raw, emotional, and heartfelt film. What's intriguing is the film revolves around Facebook and with The Social Network hitting theaters in about two weeks, it seems like a bit of a bold move. Catfish demands to be seen, if only for the excellent arguments you'll have about it on the drive home.