CATFISH

US, 2010, 87 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Shulman.


A documentary. What is a documentary these days? Is it an objective look at some event or issue? Try as the makers do, it will always have the point of view of the writers and directors? Does this matter? And, are the makers at liberty to ‘create’ some of the characters and events you will see? These are the kinds of questions that Catfish raises. And somebody nicely remarked on an IMDb blog that the film demands to be seen because of the excellent arguments you will have during the drive home.

And then somebody else remarked that it is the downside of The Social Contract. How does Facebook work? How valuable and real are on-line chat rooms? And how gullible have we become with all the information made available to us by Information Technology, swallowing everything like fish, hook, line and sinker?

Which means that we have to approach this story of online connections with caution and, perhaps, some scepticism.

Nev Shulman is a New York photographer whose brother and friend want to make a movie. When one of Nev’s prize-winning photos gets a response from an 8 year old in Michigan who has painted her own version of his photo, the flattered Nev follows up and becomes a regular communicator with the little girl (and her many paintings), her mother and her attractive and flirtatious sister, Megan. So far, so good for the social networks.

When Nev and co have to visit Colorado, they decide to visit Megan and surprise her. But, of course, it is they who get the surprise.

Caution with plot spoilers means that the narrative has to stop there and audiences interested will have to see Catfish in order to meet the family, get to know them and what the art work and the flirting all mean. This turns the film into more of a psychological study of the family – ultimately less dramatic than the first half of the film, but certainly interesting to those who puzzle over human nature.

So, a ‘reality’ documentary with more reality than anticipated – or less?
The film was followed by a television series.