Catfish Trailer: Is the Controversial Sundance Documentary For Real?
The upcoming documentary Catfish is undeniably well-made, but is it undeniably real? That's the debate that gripped Sundance this past January; here at Movieline, we're notably skeptical, and though the film induced a bidding war before landing at Rogue Pictures, I've talked to several studio suitors who weren't wholly convinced, either. Now the film's trailer has come out, and you can start deciding for yourself.
Did the filmmakers really not know what they were getting into when young Nev struck up an online romance with a girl he'd never met, or did they have every idea along the way of where things were headed, then cannily manipulate the journey for maximum results? Starting September 17, we won't be the only ones having that conversation.
VERDICT: I'd say the filmmakers are guilty... but will general audiences find them innocent?
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I'm calling shenanigans.
The trailer makes it look like some sort of horror movie or a thriller. It isn't. "The best Hitchcock film Hitchcock never wrote?" Puh-lease. It's not scary or frightening in the least, and it's creepy in the way that normal people are creepy if looked at in the right light. I get what Rogue is going for, trying to gin up some excitement for what essentially becomes a romance mystery, but people will end up disappointed if they're looking for thrills and chills. And it seems quite clear that while nearly all of the last part of the film is assuredly real, much of the first half of the film was staged after the fact.
It seems like when ninety five percent of everything that has been said about a movie concerns whether or not it is is fake, and when pretty much everyone who has seen it seems to have questioned whether or not it is, that's probably a pretty good hint that it's...fake.
Maybe not totally fake, but very manipulated, the way most reality TV shows are. What's funny is how the whole thrust of the trailer is how totally it real it is. Most documentaries don't feel the need to spell out that they are non-fiction, it's a given.
In the end, this looks about as real as Paris Hilton's The Simple Life.
What is the big twist? The woman turns out not to be a hottie after all, but a fat comic-book guy in his mother's basement? Why is it so unique and interesting? Doesn't this happen all the time on Chatroulette?
They were originally going to call this the Blair Catfish Project, but didn't for obvious reasons.
I was searching for articles about this on Yahoo and came upon your piece. I found it to be very interesting. Thanks
Out of curiosity I searched for the Angela character on google and found several links for a woman who posts images of her artwork and writes about her daughter Abby. Is this connected to the storyline of the film? I've only seen the trailer, so I don't know if the movie explains it or not. Kind of strange conincidence.
http://www.artbyapierce.net/
http://www.facebook.com/artbyapiercefanpage
Basically they are saying the scariest monster in the world they could come up with is an overweight woman in her late 30s with disabled kids.
Wow, Lady Gaga was awarded eight VMA prizes yesterday. I'm extremely proud of her success and I enjoyed that Born This Way song she sang too.
Come on...please tell me you didn't just spoil the entire movie on a specified "non spoiler" site.
Um, Jullian, I'm taking back my mother tongue here: it's not 'spoiling' anything when it's all rotten to the core to begin.
This "documentary" is just one more pretentious stinker by young men with too much time and money at hand.
Everyone just breathe. This doc is a perfect example of the comment " I
Oh dear.
Here is the rest of my observation. Just saw it tonight.
A perfect example of the constant observation "If I wrote this as fiction, no one would believe it." There is no way this isn't so. No way. It's a wonderful and appropriately uncomfortable film. Art was not designed with "comfort" in mind. Art and the narrative depiction of how lives are lived is already disruptive. Get over it! And accept it for just another well done version of the nature of human nature. Give in........ Sheesh.
It's (cat)fishy. There is never any mention of why Nev never discussed cam with Megen. Most people I've known (especially younger generation) would not go that far with an online romance absent a cam check.