Review of The Imposter (2012) by Marek H — 20 Oct 2013

The Imposter has such a complex topic to follow, and it does manage to make a good attempt to go in depth. But at times it feels like it could have gone deeper and that it raises the question of what the real meaning behind the disappearance covered in the story in a manner that's too small for its importance to have full effect.

The thing that The Imposter gets perfect is that the majority of the documentary is based on the events as told by The Imposter himself, Frederic Bourdin in an interview with him where he tells all. He recounts the events deep into his perspective of how things occurred and what was running through his head, and we get a real insight into how he experienced events as they occurred.

The Imposter could have delved deeper though, because it doesn't have the strongest grip on what was going through the minds of the Gibson family as they became acquainted with the titular imposter, but rather has a loose basis of the events as they occurred instead of a deeper analysis of it. If this had been supplied, then perhaps the question that The Imposter raises at the end could have been further understood by the viewers instead of left there to float around in a sea of ambiguity. Although it's his ambiguity that causes the audience to ask questions, it gives no real incentive into what the real answer could be, which just leaves the audience to figure it out on their own. Although this is effective, a little more information to enhance the mystery would have been beneficial.

Still, for its direct approach to the situations it reminisces of and re-enactment of sequences with actor Adam O'Brian mimicking Frederic Bourdin's physicality excellently, The Imposter proves to be a mostly compelling documentary even if it gets slow at times.