The Imposter

An increasingly fascinating documentary, The Imposter explores the unbelievable case of a Frenchman who passed himself off as a missing 16-year-old from Texas – with the young boy’s family immediately convinced by the con man’s far-from-convincing performance. Filmmaker Bart Layton has augmented The Imposter‘s real-life footage (ie interviews with all the major players) with a fictionalized portrayal of the described events, with this strategy initially serving only to detract from the inherently engrossing nature of the real events. There does reach a point, however, at which the blending of fiction and non-fiction begins to pay off, as the progressively enthralling narrative, for lack of a better word, ensures that the viewer is completely and utterly drawn into the jaw-dropping tale that’s being spun by the movie’s various participants. (It really is incredible, for example, just how many impossible-to-predict twists there are within the movie’s brisk 99 minute running time.) The movie’s captivating atmosphere is heightened by the participation of several irresistibly off-kilter figures, including an incredulous FBI agent and, most notably, a scrappy private investigator who quickly establishes himself as the real star of the proceedings (ie one almost wishes there were a reality TV series revolving around his folksy antics) – which ultimately does confirm The Imposter‘s place as one of the most involving and compelling documentaries to come around in quite some time.

***1/2 out of ****