'THE IMPOSTER': Three Stars (Out of Five)
Documentary detailing the 1997 impersonation case where a French 23-year-old con artist pretended to be a missing 16-year-old boy and began living with the kid's family (unbeknownst to them amazingly). The film uses interviews with those involved as well as several reenactments (using actors) to tell it's story. It was directed by Bart Layton, who's previous experience is solely in TV documentaries (and it shows). The film has a strong TV crime show feel to it but it's still interesting and somewhat involving. I'm not big fan of acted out reenactments (in documentaries like this) but it does help the film better tell it's story. Not a great documentary (and it doesn't quite live up to it's critical acclaim hype) but it's still an interesting one.
The film tells the story of Frederic Bourdin, a French 23-year-old con artist who had a long record of impersonating children. In this case he convinced a Texas family that he was their 16-year-old son (who had been missing for three years) from a missing children's office in Spain. The family buys his story (as does almost everyone else), even after meeting him, despite the fact that he looks nothing like the blond haired, blue eyed kid and speaks with a French accent. He tells authorities that he had been kidnapped by U.S. military and transported to Spain for sexual abuse. A private investigator (Charles Parker) and an FBI agent (Nancy Fisher) begin suspecting something isn't right from the get-go even though everyone else is duped. Suspicions also arise as to why the family was so eager to believe this stranger was undoubtedly their child.
The movie is very eerie, disturbing and bizarrely interesting but that's more so just because of the fascinating story than the filmmakers' storytelling methods. I didn't really care for the crime TV format and found it a little emotionally void and uncinematic. Still the events depicted make for a good movie. It's the kind of story that no one would buy if it were known to be fiction. Viewers would totally have a problem with the believability of the film if they thought it came from someone's imagination but because it's based on facts they'll eat it up. Truth is always stranger than fiction and this is one strange story.
Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8-fGGKVWPc
Documentary detailing the 1997 impersonation case where a French 23-year-old con artist pretended to be a missing 16-year-old boy and began living with the kid's family (unbeknownst to them amazingly). The film uses interviews with those involved as well as several reenactments (using actors) to tell it's story. It was directed by Bart Layton, who's previous experience is solely in TV documentaries (and it shows). The film has a strong TV crime show feel to it but it's still interesting and somewhat involving. I'm not big fan of acted out reenactments (in documentaries like this) but it does help the film better tell it's story. Not a great documentary (and it doesn't quite live up to it's critical acclaim hype) but it's still an interesting one.
The film tells the story of Frederic Bourdin, a French 23-year-old con artist who had a long record of impersonating children. In this case he convinced a Texas family that he was their 16-year-old son (who had been missing for three years) from a missing children's office in Spain. The family buys his story (as does almost everyone else), even after meeting him, despite the fact that he looks nothing like the blond haired, blue eyed kid and speaks with a French accent. He tells authorities that he had been kidnapped by U.S. military and transported to Spain for sexual abuse. A private investigator (Charles Parker) and an FBI agent (Nancy Fisher) begin suspecting something isn't right from the get-go even though everyone else is duped. Suspicions also arise as to why the family was so eager to believe this stranger was undoubtedly their child.
The movie is very eerie, disturbing and bizarrely interesting but that's more so just because of the fascinating story than the filmmakers' storytelling methods. I didn't really care for the crime TV format and found it a little emotionally void and uncinematic. Still the events depicted make for a good movie. It's the kind of story that no one would buy if it were known to be fiction. Viewers would totally have a problem with the believability of the film if they thought it came from someone's imagination but because it's based on facts they'll eat it up. Truth is always stranger than fiction and this is one strange story.
Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8-fGGKVWPc