[7.00/10] Catfish (2010)

Catfish (2010)

An unexpected odyssey unfolds after a filmmaker's brother, Nev Schulman, begins receiving unusually advanced paintings from a supposedly 8-year-old girl, in this documentary from filmmakers Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. Although the creators of this film claim that it is "100 percent real", and it often feels and looks like it's 100% real, "Catfish"'s authenticity somehow remains questionable to me. Nevertheless, this is an engrossing, clever and kinda unique documentary and probably one of the saddest and most twisted love stories I've seen in a while. I won't spoil anything from the story, becuase this weird journey is best experienced with Nev Schulman himslef, and the less you know about this film the better. "Catfish" is astounding in many ways, most of which cannot be said without revealing the end, but I have to say that as the movie progresses, the mystery behind the story becumes more and more intriguing, and once the pieces of the puzzle are put together, "Catfish" turns into a very emotional, sad and moving story. Technically, the film doesn't really shines, due to the fact that it's shot entirely with hand-held camera - there are no special effects gimmicks or intense music score, and yet, the film effective in its simplicity. Although it's executed on an amateurish level, "Catfish" is extremely well-photographed and impressively-edited. Moving, thought-provoking, effective and thoroughly absorbing, "Catfish" is probably like nothing you've seen before, and it certainly opens people's eyes to the truth about the mega-popular Facebook and other social networks, because it tells a story, that could actually happen in real life.