Review: Catfish

We recommend jumping into this film—just make sure you can swim!

By Jamie Hall
Published: September 17th, 2010 | 12:00am

**Warning: Spoilers Ahead!**

Everyone looks better on Facebook. Just ask Nev Schulman, the unwitting, 24 year-old photographer and Facebook fixation of…well, who?

Here in lies the plot of Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost’s documentary Catfish—which is as close to a horror movie as you’ll see these days. Jamie Lee Curtis being chased by a slow-moving zombie for miles is totally unthinkable in an era of cell phones, Map Quest and Onstar. And most Americans watch enough CSI to know you can’t just kill somebody like you used to.

But, accepting a random friend on Facebook? Who can say they haven’t done that at least once?

When Nev Schulman receives a box by mail containing a painting of one of his photographs, he’s flattered. When he reads the enclosed letter and discovers the painter is an eight year-old girl growing up in a small Michigan town and desperate for inspiration, he’s quick to befriend her—on Facebook.

Nev does everything right: he talks to Abby’s mother on the telephone first, and befriends both Abby’s parents on good old FB. Pretty soon, Nev’s in with the whole clan…and then it becomes apparent something’s rotten in the state of Michigan.

Catfish filmmakers Schulman and Joost rely heavily on Facebook screen shots and an intimate relationship with Nev, their main character, who also happens to be brother of one director, best friend to the other; to relay their story of mix up, switch up, and deceit.

Viewers are shown, in a Clue-like fashion; the ever growing list of players: the adorable, eight year-old artist Abby, who makes beautiful paintings from Nev’s photographs; Abby’s sexy, hip mother, Angela, who runs a house full of kids, is amazingly computer savvy and has time to record acoustic songs with her teenage daughter, Megan; and Megan, a virginal animal-loving 19 year-old who quickly becomes Nev’s love interest (by age appropriation, if nothing else).

But there’s more! A whole world of Michigan-based “Facebook” friends who start to become more real to Nev than the one’s he’s actually met…in real life—cousins of Abby, ex-boyfriend’s of Megan’s, family friends of Angela’s, all messaging Nev, drawing him deeper and deeper into a life and family that may or may not exist in faraway Michigan.

Catfish, a modern documentary is constructed more like The Truman Show or the Matrix, but without the unattainable technology and expenses illustrated in the aforementioned films. No, in Catfish, the most terrifying aspect is this: Facebook makes it entirely possible to construct a fictitious world, just for you—and it’s all FREE! It simply takes a little desperation, a lot of spare time, and a willingness to take a sneaky peak into what crazy must feel like.

As the boys struggle to uncover the truth, the documentary turns Stand By Me reminiscent, allowing the director’s and Nev all to take their rightful place as stars of their film: three young boys in rental cars and crummy hotel rooms doing shaky camera interviews with each other and Nev. In a particularly poignant scene, Nev struck with anxious insomnia, reads his most intimate sext messages while blushing at his own naiveté, burying his head beneath his blankets.

A documentary that needed to be made, as opposed to the scores of wannabe scary “mockumentaries” hitting theaters these days, Catfish will inspire you to set your profile to private and think long and hard before you press “accept.” It’s a mean old world out there…and the social networking world might just be the creepiest.

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Catfish official site

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admin (about 1 year)
I saw this two days ago and was touched by the poignancy of all the characters. Each of them were revealed to be deeper and more complex than any Facebook account could portray. Recommend seeing this in tandem with "The Social Network" as a powerful commentary on the value of openness and privacy in our society.