Ok? Checked it out? Then let's move on.
It's almost impossible to talk about Catfish as a film without giving anything away, and I really don't want to do that. As I walked out of the theater I definitely felt a bit rattled by the movie, but not for the reasons that the preview would lead you to think. Once again I take up issue with how movies are being promoted, even though I understand the necessity of needing to market certain products in certain ways.
You watch that preview and you think, "Holy crap, what happens in the final 40 minutes of the movie?! It looks like those guys pull up to this old barn in the middle of nowhere and then....what? Something must go wrong, all hell must break loose....or something....right?" The entire premise of the film is interesting enough and we can talk a bit about that without giving too much away. Stop reading here, however, if you don't want to know any more than what's in the preview, ok?
Nev, the film's main character, is a photographer based out of NYC who gets a package in the mail one day from a young artist. It's a painted version of one of his pictures that was published in a NYC newspaper, and the artist who painted it is an 8 year old girl named Abby who lives in Michigan(?). Over time, more and more paintings begin to show up and Nev's roommates (who just happen to be filmmakers) decide to document this blossoming friendship. Abby is apparently talented beyond her years and Nev and the young artist eventually become friends on Facebook. This new angle of the story is where things really begin to pick up. Facebook acts as a doorway into Abby's life and we eventually discover that she comes from a talented family of artists, her older sister (Megan in the preview) is a dancer, singer, musician and her mother Angela also has talents. Friendships and connections develop over a serious of months, all through the very tenuous connections of Facebook, text messaging, and phone conversations. Ultimately things begin to fall apart, and Nev's curiosity gets the better of him. He, with friends in tow, decides to visit Abby and her family in rural Michigan.
That, in a nutshell, is the film.
Did I enjoy the film? I have no idea honestly. Is it compelling and unique? Definitely. Is it, as it claims, true? I'm not sure, and from everything I've read on the internet no one else is really certain either. Certain parts of the film seem genuinely real, and other parts of the film seem a little more "Blair Witch Project" than actual documentary. If the previews piqued your interest then you might want to try and find this one and check it out, but if the whole premise of it doesn't grab your attention then maybe you should give it a pass.
SPOILERS BELOW - STOP READING IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW HOW THIS ONE ENDS. Click and highlight the inviso-text below if you want to keep reading....
Everybody gone?
Ultimately it's the finale of the movie that is the most unsettling aspect of the entire ordeal. But it's not unsettling in the way the previews make it out to be and that is where I think a lot of my issues with marketing come back into play. The previews would have you believe that something ghastly happens when the boys finally arrive at Abby's home in Michigan, or at least it leads you in the direction of thinking that. What ultimately transpires is not so much ghastly as it is...sad. Yeah, it's definitely disturbing what the anonymity of the internet allows people to do, but it shouldn't be that surprising to anyone I wouldn't think. I mean, how hard is it to make a new gmail address for yourself? Or a new FB account? It's probably one of the easier things to do on the internet at this point in time.
The sad part, for me, is seeing how this woman struggles to exist within the realities of her life. The way she fights with the compromises that she has made with herself in order to have a family, and have some sense of security while, at the same time, begrudging those very things for "holding her back from her dreams." I think the commentary is fascinating. She builds herself a fragile house of cards knowing that the slightest inspection might cause the whole thing to collapse, and yet she continues with the illusions anyway. It begs the question however, if she'd made no compromises, if she'd tried to become the dancer/singer/artist/musician that she dreamed of...and failed...would that life be any better? Would she be any less broken than she is now?
I'd love to hear thoughts from any of you who've seen this one.
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