“Catfish” is one of those films that will have as many interpretations as it has viewers. The middle-aged hipster-loathing intellectual will see it as nothing more than an outlet for the filmmakers to glorify their modern, pseudo-bohemian cookie-cutter coolness. The bleeding heart will see it as bad form, an exploitative fame-grab at the expense of a troubled family barely held together by a truly tragic figure. 20-35-year-old unmarried males will hail it as a masterpiece and cite it as inspiration to start their own documentary film careers. But in almost all cases, “Catfish” will be granted status as a compelling, thought-provoking take on the serious implications of our digitized, globalized world.
Yaniv “Nev” Schulman is a New York photographer living with his filmmaker brother, Ariel, and filmmaker friend, Henry Joost. One day, a beautifully painted version of one of his published photographs arrives in the mail. The artist is adorable 8-year-old painter prodigy, Abby Pierce, from somewhere in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Nev and Abby soon become Facebook friends and Nev’s network broadens to include Abby’s mother, Angela, and a dozen or so family members and friends of the precocious little Rembrandt-in-training. Megan, Abby’s beautiful older sister, catches Nev’s eye and they begin a correspondence that quickly evolves into a classic Internet romance.
The deeper Nev falls in love with Megan, the fishier the entire situation becomes. Among other things, recordings of her musical performances she sends to him aren’t really hers, and the abandoned JC Penney building soon to become Abby’s new art gallery is still abandoned. Crushed, Nev considers cutting ties with his Internet love, but is convinced by his directors to continue the relationship for the documentary’s sake. The crew decides to travel all the way to Ipsheming, Michigan and confront the beguiling, social networking seductress.
The ensuing confrontation and gripping revelations thereafter are worth waiting through 45 minutes of the filmmakers showing off their hip NYC pad, exciting jobs and progressive lifestyles. A far cry from the banal life lessons you might expect about the value of real-life personal relationships contrasted with today’s hollow cyber-connections, “Catfish” gives us a startlingly deep and nuanced portrayal of isolation, regret and what it really means to live a meaningful life.
Much has been said about the authenticity or inauthenticity of “Catfish.” Although most of the film appeared genuine, I suspect, as I would for any documentary, that some scenes were probably staged or reenactments of actual events. Frankly, I couldn’t care less if the entire film was a fabrication. When the Coen Brothers placed a title card ahead of “Fargo” that read, “THIS IS A TRUE STORY,” the fact that it wasn’t had no effect on the film’s powerful dramatic core. “Catfish,” whether fact or fiction, or some mix of the two, remains one of the most ambitious and revealing surprises this year.
