Directed by Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost
In the beginning there was Facebook… so everyone could have hundreds of friends. Then there was a 24 year old photographer living in New York. Yaniv “Nev†Schulman was contacted by eight year-old Abby for permission to paint one of his photographs and he began an online friendship with her when she sent him the amazing painting. Nev shares an office with his brother Ariel and friend Henry Joost who make commercials and documentaries. When Nev began to expand his friendships to include Abbey’s mother Angela and her attractive older sister Megan, Ariel and Henry began to record what was becoming a living soap opera. Over 18 months, over 200 hours of footage was shot and this was edited together with 1,300 emails and Facebook messages, thousands of photos, wall posts, comments, status updates and Google Earth and Sat Nav images.
Everyone is talking about the documentary that you can’t really talk about because too much knowledge would spoil the viewing experience. When Nev falls in love/lust with Megan and they begin dating even though they have never actually met, of course there are going to be suspicions as to where this is all leading, but nothing can prepare you for what does actually happen when the three guys decide to jump in their car and, armed with cameras, track down Abbey and her Michigan family. There are several OMG moments and everyone who has lots of Facebook friends should see this film.
The end result is a portrait of two artists but also a ‘snapshot of the triumphs and pitfalls of modern communication’ according to Joost. There are no talking heads, recreations or dramatisations in this documentary. The cameras catch all the action as it unfolds. It’s such a pity that more can’t be revealed; especially the reason the documentary is called Catfish.
Lezly Herbert
