Catfish shows some interesting themes and moments throughout, however it fails to make a big enough splash to catch a variety of movie goers’ interests. As documentaries seem to be losing popularity in today’s world and mockumentaries seeming to be gaining recognition, Catfish is no exception. In many instances there are unneeded parts included; such as pauses, camera flaws and stuttering that can be easily avoided in a mockumentary. Along with the imperfections in the delivery come a strange plot line and overall a pretty flat ending. In all, the movie showed some promise, but the verdict comes to be a pass because of these imperfections throughout.
This 2010 film by filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost contains a 24 year old photographer who gets a request from an eight year old girl to paint pictures of his photographs. Accepting her request, Nev, the star of the film begins a trip ending in Northern Michigan where he is determined to discover the truth on who he has not only been trading art with but who he has had a relationship with the last few months. The film continues with multiple twists and turns in relation to these plot points.
Nev is the main character of the movie; he is a photographer who takes pictures of dance in his hometown of New York. Abby is the eight year old “painter” who asks Nev if she can make paintings of his art. Megan is Nev’s “girlfriend” who he frequently texts, messages and even talks to over the phone. Angela is Megan and Abby’s mom; she is in contact with Nev for the most part and is the messenger between her and Abby.
The most important idea in the film was the idea of Catfish. The basic idea of Catfish is that some people or things in life are just there to keep you fresh, keep you always thinking and occupied. After watching the film, it becomes clearer who the “Catfish” is. There are multiple perspectives to the film however; it seems that everyone watching it feels something different. This film ties in interesting ideas and plot twists to show how social media can be great but also very deceptive.
Overall, I would recommend this film to younger technology involved people if at all. I think that some of the lessons in the movie can be very rewarding but it doesn’t have much more than that to offer. It doesn’t have quite enough action to satisfy someone in that category but also lacks the “epiphany” moment of a successful mystery. Overall it was about middle of the road for action and suspense, below average in quality and presentation but did contain an important lesson that should be heard by lots of American youth and teenagers.
