CATFISH (2010)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
There are celebrities and critics who find "Catfish's" reality dubious. I don't know why but in an age where any and everything can be digitally manipulated, it would take a talent too enormous to fake this film. You have heard of it. "Catish" is about a facebook relationship that ends up revealing the truth of that relationship through, gasp, actual physical interaction. Some have declared "The Social Network" to be the definitive film about facebook and the social networks we cling to. I think "Catfish" will be the definitive film because it appears to be the most honest.
Nev Schulman, Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost are three New York videographers who film and photograph modern dancers. Abby is a 9-year-old Michigan girl who sends Nev a painting of one of his photographs and develops a relationship with him through facebook, that global social interactive website. As Nev gets to know Abby, he also learns of her family, including Abby's mom, Angela, and the eldest daughter, 19-year-old Meghan. Meghan supposedly has a horse farm. There is also talk of an exhibition of paintings that Nev has received by mail in his New York office. But it is really Meghan whom Nev has a keen and vested interest in, talking to her on the phone, and hearing her covers of songs like "Tennessee Stud." Let's say that nothing is exactly what it seems.
"Catfish" is pulse-pounding, frequently on the verge of making you cringe in anticipation of what you may or may not find about this relationship. The Meghan we see in the facebook photo album looks like a supermodel - the girl of Nev's dreams. When we discover the reality, we find that Nev was predisposed to a reality that is fake in nature - not all women look like supermodels and, to be fair, not many look like George Clooney or Nev. 24-year-old Nev looks like a handsome, intelligent guy but he is naive and falls for someone who, let's face it, exists in digital air.
As I mentioned earlier, some find the authenticity of this film to be suspect. Well, it is no "Blair Witch Project" or "This is Spinal Tap." Some other critics said that the film hits all the right notes yet when one edits a film, we select the best pieces that fit the puzzle, especially a documentary. There may be hours of footage we have not seen that might be boring. I am willing to believe that what transpires in this film is the real thing (even the videographers occasionally forget to compose their shots correctly, especially in scenes where they type in the computer - their heads seem to be chopped off or they shoot the ceiling).
"Catfish" is continually absorbing and thrilling, right up to the conclusion which is miraculous in its understatement. There is no big revelation that we don't see coming but, I can say, the Michigan family is as warm and loving as you might think. If this film was faked, it might have ended with some violent temperament. "Catfish" will leave you exhilarated, surprised and elated - there is a joy that comes from the film's deeper subtext about today's need to socially interact in, yes, digital air that will you leave you thinking and ruminating for days and weeks on end.
