Catfish (2010)
Vince sits in his chair on the porch of their Michigan home. He rocks back and forth on the rocker and relates a very wise yet modest maxim about his wife Angela, he has a north western simpleton-like dialogue about him, and at this point he is unaware of what is unfolding around him. His maxim is something like this… Some while back they used to ship live fish around in these big vats by truck or boat or something I’m not sure. Thousands of these bass fish in these moving across the world in big vats, but when the fish arrived the the skin would soften and everything all fused together, So what should have been fresh became tasteless. One day this guy got this idea to put a few catfish in the tank to chase the bass and stir things up, this kept the fish lively and fresh. He goes on about how there are different kinds of people in the world, the ones that sit and become tasteless and those who stir things up. Angela to him is the Catfish in his world. This not only explains the films title, but it might be one of the most oddly memorable moments in film this year.
Yaniv is a photographer living in New York and one of his photos is published in the New York Times, weeks later he receives a painting from 8 year old Abby from a small town in Michigan. They develop a simple and heartwarming friendship on facebook and through exchanging packages as he takes pictures for her to paint and she sends him his work. Yaniv soon develops a relationship with this whole amazing family and even has a more intimate relationship blossoming with Abby’s 19 year old sister Megan. Megan is a musician and starts writing songs for Yaniv and publishing her recordings on her facebook page. But Yaniv, soon finds that Megan is posting stolen songs and claiming it is her own. What was a feel-good story in Yaniv’s life soon becomes a real-life mystery that unfolds in this poignant and simple documentary.
I can see why this is on so many top ten lists this year and it’ll probably find it’s way onto mine once I actually get to watching all the 2010 movies on my list. I don’t want to give away too much about this film because that is why it works so well. What is amazing about this film is how the emotions of the situation are handled, it’s not over-the-top at all, there is a lot of subtle dignity to both Yaniv and Angela as the mystery unfolds. Angela is surprisingly graceful in the end, and there is a beautiful sense of care and great empathy that Yaniv was able to display in this odd and amazing story of friendship and technology.
The social networks and modern communication and the all of the RGB pixelated relationships that we all now have in our lives is something that is new to us, it does have it’s place in our society and we are all testing the waters of it, as technology grows so does the social ramifications of it. Through all this there is still a simple human grace in life that we often forget about as we sit alone behind our computer screens. Social networks are the jungle in which paper tigers become what I call LCD lions. LCD lions are far more dangerous, because there is so much anonymity and falsification, there is no limit to what people can do without shame and consequence. Fortunately, Catfish is the world where these felines get stirred up and learn to swim together, and people become human again.
January 11, 2011 at 10:45 am
I avoided everything I could about this movie before I watched it. All of the Sundance screenings were packed so I had to wait until it came to Broadway. So, I didn’t watch any trailers, read any reviews, or talk to anyone about Catfish until Whitney and I went to see it. I’m really glad I did because spoilers have the potential to ruin this movie for people. Overall, I loved the movie (#12 on my Top 20 of 2010 list). Have you seen the Joan River’s documentary? That and Restrepo both surprised me by being so good.
January 11, 2011 at 12:14 pm
I also had very limited info about it and it really helped, I tried not to spoil it too much with my blob. I have Restrepo on my to see list.
March 5, 2011 at 10:40 pm
The film begs lots of questions about how, and when, it became clear any of this was worth documenting, but it certainly was. I still don’t know whether this was real or not, but despite that all, I was still interested while watching this. Good review, check out mine when you can!
March 7, 2011 at 9:40 am
Comedian Zack Galifinakis said “That was the best fake documentary I have ever seen.” So your not alone in your questioning of the film, however, I believe that the actual plot was really not as significant as the emotions that unfolded, so I don’t see it as a fake as much as I see it as a fluke. Thanks for your comment, I’ll go find your review.