The Imposter

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The Imposter - 20/7/2012 4:24:17 AM

Empire Admin

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Joined: 29/6/2005

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Post #: 1

- 20/7/2012 4:24:17 AM

JCR

Posts: 12
Joined: 4/2/2009

Saw it at the Edinburgh film fest, agree with Empire's review, it's bold and completely crazy. I guess there really is no such thing as the truth in matters such as these.

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Post #: 2

Go in blind - 20/8/2012 10:42:03 AM

Hawros

Posts: 22
Joined: 24/2/2006
From: Nottingham

Film reviews are often accused of giving away too much information on a film, and this is exactly the case here. The film is very controlled with how it releases the information about the various subjects and their motives, and is best seen with little or know knowledge on how things will pan out.
It's fantastically crafted, and you would genuinely struggle to write a piece of fiction as absurd and emotionally involving as this.

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Post #: 3

RE: The Imposter - 24/8/2012 12:01:57 PM

chris kilby

Posts: 1189
Joined: 31/3/2010

How utterly bizarre. You couldn't make it up. Although clearly someone has. This sounds curiously reminiscent of the bizarre-but-true stories behind Six Degrees of Separation and Changeling. (It also makes me think of AI a bit...) Proof positive that people really do believe what they want to believe? Interesting that F for Fake is getting a re-release at the same time.

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Post #: 4

The Chameleon - 24/8/2012 8:04:00 PM

jwebb66

Posts: 6
Joined: 29/4/2008

This sounds great, although I might have seen it before, exactly the same story as Famke Janssen movie the Chameleon, which is decent
http://www.highfliersplc.com/product/476/

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Post #: 5

The Imposter - 27/8/2012 9:57:46 AM

losthighway

Posts: 3167
Joined: 25/1/2006
From: Manchesterford

Saw it yesterday. In short, best film of 2012 so far. Avoid all reviews/trailers/spoilers and go in blind. It's excellent!

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Post #: 6

RE: The Imposter - 27/8/2012 11:00:52 AM

Qwerty Norris

Posts: 3152
Joined: 26/10/2005
From: Edinburgh

One of the best things I witnessed at EIFF this year.

A really impressive documentary that stylistically is reminiscent of an Errol Morris effort and (as lost highway alluded to) works best when you know next to nothing about the subject matter.

So an that note, I'll say nothing more, other than.....

4/5

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Qwerty's Top 10 of 2013 (so far)

1. Zero Dark Thirty
2. No
3. In The Fog
4. Good Vibrations
5. McCullin
6. Beyond the Hills
7. The Place Beyond the Pines
8. Wreck-it Ralph
9. Shell
10. In The House

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Post #: 7

Fake movie - 27/8/2012 11:31:02 PM

BatSpider

Posts: 170
Joined: 6/7/2010

Totally pointless anodyne bullshit for the gormless coffee latte froth licking crowd. Too false and manipulative to be a proper documentary, too boring to be a standard scripted movie. Really brave inserting audience-sucking pot shots at poor uneducated Texan white trash. Wow, what a challenging and original target <claps hands and pats audience on the head>
In terms of the story itself, anything of interest (not much really) vanishes as soon as the imposter tried to accuse the family - so what, exactly? And what's scary when you know the imposter makes it out of the situation, based on him narrating all the way through? Scary would be his ass getting chainsawed in a Texan abbatoir or turning into a bear. The actual story would work as a TV movie or an hour long TV documentary, but no way is it worth time/money at the cinema.

btw, WTF was the excellent Wigan manager Roberto Martinez doing as the imposter impersonator?

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Post #: 8

Underwhelmed - 29/8/2012 11:26:53 AM

jocklet

Posts: 4
Joined: 29/8/2012

Went to see this last night on basis of great reviews here. Whilst it was an interesting story it was a waste of a cinema outing as it was not a big screen event. This would be a good TV documentary but a 5 star movie? No.

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Post #: 9

A Character study if nothing else,.. - 5/9/2012 9:19:40 PM

Ramone87

Posts: 37
Joined: 24/12/2011

A distrurbing docu/drama about the depths of human deception involved in the 1997 scandal of how a texan family was conned.

(FEW SPOILERS AHEAD)
What we begin with is a study of a cruel individual Frédéric Bourdin and his selfish ambition to sensationalize a texan family's pain over thier missing child. So he adopts his identity and fabricates a kidnapping / torture story to the press and athorities and fools even the family into taking him in as thier now found child.

But alas he is found out by a smart detective and photos revealing his obvious physical differences to the actual Barclay son...,

It's all well shot and well made,...but throughout the movie we learn Frédéric motives, wanting to be 'someone else',...trouble fitting into society he moans, so you too are conned into thinking his stories of abuse and cruelty are true,..then by the end we are truly trumped as he reveals his true sinister side,...

A five star movie this is not, but nevertheless a fascinating character study to be seen and judged by yourself.

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Post #: 10

Fascinating, Enjoyable, Troubling.... - 19/10/2012 11:53:04 PM

blaud

Posts: 722
Joined: 13/12/2007

One of the most exceptional documentaries I have seen in recent years, The Imposter tells a story in a very specific way, but is sure to give a million people a million different opinions. I won't delve into the details of the interviews, because many will draw their own conclusions, but on a technical level, the film is very proficient, utilizing a remixed Dispatches-style format. A character study develops regarding the main 'antagonist' of the story (who, incidently, is MADE to be seen on camera), and it is the character of this man we are most keen to unravel. However, revelations appear consistently that call into doubt anything you have dared to believe so far in the documentary. It's true that there is an uneasy line being straddled throughout that makes for occasionally uncomfortable viewing, but this is always in the best possible way. This is simply one of those films I don't want to ruin for everyone,but suffice it to say that it is a very strong documentary, and a gripping study of a human being you will find very hard to believe.

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Post #: 11

RE: Fascinating, Enjoyable, Troubling.... - 26/11/2012 2:24:06 AM

Coyleone

Posts: 482
Joined: 13/10/2008

Amazing documentary. Completely gripping, crazy and insanely chilling. Probably going to have nightmares about it for a week. Can't stop thinking about it. Seriously everyone should see it, it plays out like a real thriller and has insane twists and turns. Definitely something you should know nothing about (aside from the basic story) before watching it. Whether you believe one side or the other, or even if anything in it is true, it's genuinely thought provoking and hard to forget. You're dragged one way, and then another, and then another in what you believe or what you think might happen. Brilliant. It's hard for me to consider a documentary as a 'film of the year' because it seems kind of unfair to me to compare the two, but this has to be the most powerful thing I've seen all year.

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Post #: 12

Masterful film - makes you pause and think about the fa... - 27/12/2012 5:03:54 AM

joannakanga

Posts: 3
Joined: 22/8/2012
From: Greece

As the story slowly unfolded, I found myself utterly fascinated. Having never heard of the story, there were no pre-conceptions about what “could’ve been and should’ve been”.
Beautifully filmed and not a boring moment throughout, the seamless transition from interviews to re-enactments, “mouth-over” effects included, I thought, was a stroke of genius.

Master manipulator of human frailty, Frédéric Bourdin, is almost reptilian in aspect.

Although there were times during viewing when I felt a vague sympathy with the logic of his “why should I continue to con this family – I only want to be loved, they knew I was not Nicholas from the beginning”, this quickly evaporated after reading several news articles only to discover that he has stolen several hundred identities during his life.

A con-artist is a con-artist. That is what he does. My main issue is with the family.

I find it hard to believe that a family, any family, (no matter how uneducated / desperate to find their missing relative), would accept on say-so, a person with in-your-face glaring physical & speech discrepancies. No doubts, no questioning, no request for blood or DNA test … makes you think doesn’t it? Makes you wonder about the truth.

This is my first review – I usually don’t have the time. But this time I took the time. For me this is a measure of excellence – film excellence.

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Post #: 13

- 8/1/2013 8:49:21 PM

danfacey711

Posts: 48
Joined: 18/10/2008
From: Oxford

Absolutely remarkable. Right from the start this movie maintains its suspense making you question everything. My heart was racing right from start to end - a must see, masterfully made documentary.

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Post #: 14

Fluff - 8/1/2013 8:49:32 PM

Normal Control

Posts: 74
Joined: 11/11/2012

If the movie stopped at the end of the factual story it would have been an interesting effort. The fact that it then started to cast aspersions with no proven facts whatsoever turned it into exploitative trash and a complete waste of time.

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Post #: 15

Incredible story! - 10/5/2013 9:23:21 AM

guysalisbury

Posts: 169
Joined: 3/11/2005

The real life goings on of this story are truly jaw dropping and by the end I really was gripped. The lack of respect from the french dude is truly insane and at times hard to comprehend. I would highly recommend it but is it 5 star film making? Probably not!

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Post #: 16