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Overlooked & Underrated Docs & Features (click on broll or dschwartz for all his posts)

Catfish: Who Is the Catfish? •
As I viewed “Catfish” I did not know if I was watching a documentary or if I was being punked. (This happens to me sometimes.) By the film’s conclusion it appeared as if the film’s story is authentic—although I did look it up immediately just to make sure.

Here’s the Thing: Henry and Rel are filmmakers. They are co-directors and co-producers of this film. They are young, have a miniscule IMDB filmmaking resumé, but do have a very nice camera and sound equipment, as well as a fair amount of expertise. Their friend and partner-in-crime is Nev, a handsome, charming young man who could be an actor. (I looked him up after seeing the film and discovered he’s about as much of an actor as an actor can be—he’s repped by CAA.)

Through a set of circumstances Nev finds himself in Internet, snail mail and telephonic communications with a family far away. One member of this family is a beautiful, talented singer/songwriter. The two young people gradually get to know each other, and their communications eventually become sexual in nature. As their relationship heats up it also appears that the beautiful young woman may not be who she represents herself to be. ‘Is this a guy?’ Nev wonders at one point.

Now pretty early on in this communication Henry and Rel began documenting Nev’s growing family. Believing they were making a documentary about a younger daughte, they began filming the conversations, the items received by mail, and the Internet communications. As Nev’s suspicions grow to near-certainty, the three men decide to drop in on this family. This is the film’s extended—justifiably so—climax. As the film makes clear in concluding text, the end of this movie is not the end of the story. We can now follow this new extended family via the film’s website. Although I’ve egodystonically given part of the film’s story away, the one thing I won’t spoil is the question, “Who is the catfish?”
D. Schwartz March 2, 2011