A documentary centered on a young Frenchman who convinces a grieving Texas family that he is their 16-year-old son who went missing for 3 years.
Creepier than Catfish and as cinematic as Man On Wire, this is an unnerving story immaculately told and a strong contender for doc of the year.
The story is gripping, and the film leaves enough questions in its wake for fertile post-screening debate.
The Imposter is a fascinating story, but it’s about as reliable as Bourdin – a veteran liar who, significantly, is allowed to dominate the picture. Layton may be making a sophisticated point about the elusive nature of truth but at the same time, it’s a point made at the expense of the Barclays.
This is a powerful, haunting work.
Mixing a series of dramatic reconstructions with talking head interviews, the film attempts to get to the truth of what happened with the tenacious narrative drive of a fine piece of detective fiction.
This is a film that is unafraid to pose tough questions with no easy answers, and it leaves us shaken by the slipperiness of truth.
The year’s most fascinating and frightening doc so far, The Imposter delves far beneath the hysterical tabloid headlines.
When this film was over, I felt as if I had been holding my breath for 99 minutes. It is pure, delicious suspense.
Through clever use of flashbacks, reconstructions and talking heads, the film builds its tale inch by fascinating inch. Every documentary these days seems to need a tale weirder than fiction to stand out, and Layton has found a doozy.
Brilliant.
nventively drawing together all the elements of the puzzle, The Imposter frequently sends your jaw hurtling to the floor as it tries to understand the great pretender and a family only too willing to accept him as one of their own.
With its elegantly staged reconstructions, film noir atmospherics and ominous music (shades of Errol Morris's genre-blurring The Thin Blue Line), The Imposter tells us that truth and fiction are closer than we like to think – but to what effect? A nightmarish true story is reduced to the status of bizarre anecdote.
See The Imposter, meet the real people involved (including an elderly Texas private eye who, as they say, has stepped right out of the movies), and enjoy one of the year's most provocative pictures.
Profile: Bart Layton--director of The Imposter
The Imposter: I am still digging for body of Nicholas Barclay, says private detective
Who to believe? Convicted conman Frederic Bourdin claims film about him is economical with the truth.
The private detective who uncovered The Imposter
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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