Catfish
Dir: Ariel Schulman, Henry Joost
2010
**
With 2010's highly controversial Catfish, Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost have achieved something spectacular. They convinced everyone that what they were filming was 100% genuine when I believe it is only 20%, 35% at best. The story goes that Nev Schulman (Ariel Schulman's brother) has been having an online relationship with a girl for some time but after months of communication (and obsession) everything about her seems a little too good to be true. His brother and friend (co-director Henry Joost) decide to film themselves getting to the bottom of whether or not this internet girl is genuinely who she says she is, until they discover she is not. There are genuine moments of suspense and thrill here and I will hold my hands up and say I thought it was real the first time I watched it. It was only later that I started to question the film's authenticity, having already questioned its ethics. The girl they find is clearly troubled and yet they have very little sympathy for her. They're not nasty in any way but by filming her and releasing the material they are exploiting her and it's excruciating to watch. Unfortunately that is what modern entertainment has become, Catfish the TV show giving weight to my theory. I don't like the smugness of the film makers and in veering into the dark side of the web they are only adding to it and making it darker. The way they've filmed it is effective and they clearly have talent but I feel it is used for negative purposes here and someones escapism (a sign of their own insecurities and mental issues) is judged and their own naivety is never once questioned. After giving it a lot of thought and following on from their TV show I've come to the conclusion that the only real person in the film is the 'fake girl' who is exploited and the three men are nothing more than grubby opportunists with computer skills. The title Catfish is explained by the husband of the internet girl, he explains to the group that back in the day, cod were shipped of Asia from North America but due to the fish's inactivity, only mushy flesh was left when they reached their destination. However, fishermen soon learned that putting Catfish in the tanks with the cod kept them active and thus ensured the the quality of the fish. He then makes the analogy that there are people in everyone's lives who keep each other active, on their toes and thinking, so people should always be alert while socializing through the internet. It's a rubbish analogy really but Schulman and Joost are fishermen, the unethical sort that fish irresponsibly.