I was recently contacted by the film preview company See Film First to attend an event in London's Empire Cinema which included a screenwriting workshop, Q&A with a panel of filmmakers and a secret screening of an as yet unreleased film.
The day was amazing and the film turned out to be documentary/true story The Imposter. The film is a mixture of documentary interviews, archive footage and filmed scenes which fill in the gaps. The story is of a young Frenchman who convinces an entire family in Texas that he is their missing 16 year old child.
It sounds like it couldn't possibly be true but that is what draws you in to The Imposter and holds you there. How could an entire family be convinced that a French man, not a boy but a 20 something from another country, be their missing son and sibling?
The film reveals a startling conclusion to this question but I won't spoil it for you, as the joy of the movie for me was in the unravelling of the story. I've never been a fan of documentaries and as such I freely admit that I breathed a sigh of anticipated boredom when the organisers announced that we'd be watching one. I'd already said to my cinema buddy that if the movie wasn't something either of us wanted to see we could go. But we were so intrigued by the premise that we stayed and I'm so glad that we did. We were clapping along with rest of the packed theatre at the end and were treated to a further Q&A with director Bart Layton as the credits rolled.
If you wouldn't normally see a documentary movie I urge you to give this one a go as it's not all documentary footage (although most of the documentary interview footage is hilarious), it also has some acted out scenes to explain the story in more detail. It's a good way to ease you into a documentary and once you've let The Imposter in, it'll grab hold of you and take you on it's crazy ride.
An unexpected treat and one which I can't recommend highly enough. 8 out of 10.
Viewing Date - 21st July 2012
UK Release Date - 24th August 2012
Cast Overview:
Actors
Adam O'Brian ~ Frederic Bourdin
Anna Ruben ~ Carey Gibson
Cathy Dresbach ~ Nancy Fisher
Alan Teichman ~ Charlie Parker
Documentary Footage features
Frederic Bourdin
Carey Gibson
Beverly Dollarhide
Charlie Parker
Nancy Fisher
Director ~ Bart Layton
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