Catfish, the debut documentary from filmmakers Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, has been hailed as "the best Hitchcock film Hitchcock never directed," and toting it as something "you won't be able to shake for days." That's at least what the filmmakers chose to put in the trailer.
We follow Nev, a young photographer living in New York. He is contacted by a young girl living in Michigan who finds one of his photos and does a painting of it. He is instantly impressed and begins a correspondence with the girl, eventually leading to a correspondence with her mother and sister. They send photos and paintings back and forth, sharing messages and pictures via Facebook. Nev particularly gets romantically involved with the sister, leading to phone calls, text messages, and song writing.
When Nev becomes suspicious of the truth behind a lot of what the "Facebook family" is saying, he decides to surprise them with a visit. I'm going to stop here, in part because this is where I have been instructed to stop by critics. I can't recall a film being hushed like this since Hitchcock's Psycho. I don't get why there is a need to disclose the ending more than any other movie. For me, one of the ultimate crimes a person can do is to spoil a movie.
But I digress.
The real crime here is what the powers that be did with the trailer. If this movie was presented not as a horror/thriller but as a documentary/social commentary, I would have been a lot happier. In the trailer, there is a moment when they show Nev walking up to the house of the "Facebook family." The picture fades, revealing Chris Bumbray at JoBlo.com's response to the film:
"The final forty minutes of the film will take you on an emotional roller coaster that you won't be able to shake for days."
To intensify the impact of these words, the filmmakers use some of the music that Mark Mothersbaugh wrote for the film, a great score in its own right, but inappropriate for this film. It belongs in a more traditional horror/thriller than in this documentary.
The trailer plays a little on the same theme as Paranormal Activity did, though this is claiming to be a true documentary. Regardless of it's truth, what the filmmakers (or those involved with making the trailer) led us to believe is that this was going to be an intense, shocking film that would, as promised by JoBlo.com, something that would stay with us long after the film ends.
I should have read that statement more closely. For the final forty minutes of a film to shock you, that would either give you a heart attack with the amount of shock and scare value, or it would be like letting the air out of a balloon slowly. What you get with Catfish is a creepy story about how communication and technology has evolved in such a way that people can virtually do anything they want to do.
For those who haven't seen the trailer, DO NOT WATCH IT. It promises something it can't deliver. For those looking for a "hard to believe this is real" documentary, by all means enjoy. I was lead to believe this would be a thrill ride unlike any other. This is actually a nice companion piece with The Social Network, showcasing how much our world has changed from this one website.
We follow Nev, a young photographer living in New York. He is contacted by a young girl living in Michigan who finds one of his photos and does a painting of it. He is instantly impressed and begins a correspondence with the girl, eventually leading to a correspondence with her mother and sister. They send photos and paintings back and forth, sharing messages and pictures via Facebook. Nev particularly gets romantically involved with the sister, leading to phone calls, text messages, and song writing.
When Nev becomes suspicious of the truth behind a lot of what the "Facebook family" is saying, he decides to surprise them with a visit. I'm going to stop here, in part because this is where I have been instructed to stop by critics. I can't recall a film being hushed like this since Hitchcock's Psycho. I don't get why there is a need to disclose the ending more than any other movie. For me, one of the ultimate crimes a person can do is to spoil a movie.
But I digress.
The real crime here is what the powers that be did with the trailer. If this movie was presented not as a horror/thriller but as a documentary/social commentary, I would have been a lot happier. In the trailer, there is a moment when they show Nev walking up to the house of the "Facebook family." The picture fades, revealing Chris Bumbray at JoBlo.com's response to the film:
"The final forty minutes of the film will take you on an emotional roller coaster that you won't be able to shake for days."
To intensify the impact of these words, the filmmakers use some of the music that Mark Mothersbaugh wrote for the film, a great score in its own right, but inappropriate for this film. It belongs in a more traditional horror/thriller than in this documentary.
The trailer plays a little on the same theme as Paranormal Activity did, though this is claiming to be a true documentary. Regardless of it's truth, what the filmmakers (or those involved with making the trailer) led us to believe is that this was going to be an intense, shocking film that would, as promised by JoBlo.com, something that would stay with us long after the film ends.
I should have read that statement more closely. For the final forty minutes of a film to shock you, that would either give you a heart attack with the amount of shock and scare value, or it would be like letting the air out of a balloon slowly. What you get with Catfish is a creepy story about how communication and technology has evolved in such a way that people can virtually do anything they want to do.
For those who haven't seen the trailer, DO NOT WATCH IT. It promises something it can't deliver. For those looking for a "hard to believe this is real" documentary, by all means enjoy. I was lead to believe this would be a thrill ride unlike any other. This is actually a nice companion piece with The Social Network, showcasing how much our world has changed from this one website.