Thursday, March 3, 2011

Catfish (2010)

Director(s): Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman. Cast: Yaniv Schulman, Melody Roscher, Ariel Schulman. 87 min. PG-13. Documentary.

Great concept; terribly done. Told in hand-held documentary-style format, this is the story of insecure people creating fake friends and fake conversations on Facebook to fill their empty lives, luring other insecure people with empty lives into becoming their friends, leading to a vicious cycle; an "orgy of insecurity". Problem: the movie could have wrapped up in 1 hour, as the final 20 minutes is extra. Unforgivable problem: The movie asks us to feel sympathy for these lonely beings during those final 20 minutes. Cinema is not the place for morality lessons.

PS: Check your Facebook profile. If you're having a hard time remembering your 400 friends, you've got a problem, and this movie is for you.

Mo says:

4 comments:

  1. I have 56 facebook friends after having a cull several weeks back. I should trim it down further but I actually know most of the remaining "friends" as aquaintances.
    Friend in 2011 does not mean the same as it did last century.

    I will probably watch this movie sometime but no hurry.

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  2. Great point. I think this whole concept of having "friends" on Facebook is a big joke. I find it ironic that there's no "dislike" button on Facebook, or you can't label anybody as "enemy". That would have been more honest.

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  3. I started to watch this today but couldn't be bothered watching it all. It seemed quite creepy to me and of course these type of "documentaries" always seem fake, people always act when they are in front of a camera. I was quite surprised to find that this has spawned a popular TV show. I suppose our popular culture will always serve the lowest common denominator if there is a $ to be made.

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    Replies
    1. Don't worry, you didn't miss anything by not watching the whole thing. The concepts they're 'attempting' at elaborating here have already become out-dated, four years on.

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