Catfish (2010)

Young filmmakers document their colleague's budding online friendship with a young woman and her family which leads to an unexpected series of discoveries.

Directors:

Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman

Stars:

Yaniv Schulman, Ariel Schulman, Henry Joost

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview:
Yaniv Schulman	...	Himself (as Yaniv 'Nev' Schulman)
Ariel Schulman	...	Himself (as Ariel 'Rel' Schulman)
Henry Joost	...	Himself
Angela Wesselman-Pierce	...	Herself (as Angela Wesselman)
Melody C. Roscher	...	Herself
Wendy Whelan	...	Dancer: Morphoses
Craig Hall	...	Dancer: Morphoses
Tiler Peck	...	Dancer: Morphoses
Drew Jacoby	...	Dancer: Morphoses
Rubi Pronk	...	Dancer: Morphoses
Adrian Danchig-Waring	...	Dancer: Morphoses

Storyline

In late 2007, filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost sensed a story unfolding as they began to film the life of Ariel's brother, Nev. They had no idea that their project would lead to the most exhilarating and unsettling months of their lives. A reality thriller that is a shocking product of our times, Catfish is a riveting story of love, deception and grace within a labyrinth of online intrigue.

---

Plot Keywords:

filmmaker | painting | photograph | michigan | photographer | 

---

Taglines:

Don't let anyone tell you what it is.

---

Genres:

Documentary | Mystery

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some sexual references

Details

Official Sites:

Rogue [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 December 2010 (Netherlands)

Also Known As:

Sum

Filming Locations:

Michigan, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$257,285 (USA) (17 September 2010)

Gross:

$3,234,373 (USA) (26 November 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Supermarché, Hit The Ground Running Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

As of August 2011, the film has been hit with two lawsuits and, according to Catfish distributor Relativity Media, the film has an unrecouped balance of more than $8.5 million and will not likely ever become profitable. Both of these lawsuits have to do with songs used within the movie not being attributed to their creators.

---

Quotes

Vince Pierce: They used to tank cod from Alaska all the way to China. They'd keep them in vats in the ship. By the time the codfish reached China, the flesh was mush and tasteless. So this guy came up with the idea that if you put these cods in these big vats, put some catfish in with them and the catfish will keep the cod agile. And there are those people who are catfish in life. And they keep you on your toes. They keep you guessing, they keep you thinking, they keep you fresh. And I thank god for the ...

---

Crazy Credits

The opening logos are recorded off a computer (specifically a Mac). The Universal logo is shown as someone using Google Earth. The Relativity Media logo is shown as if it was an online video. The Rogue Pictures logo is shown as a desktop icon.

---

Connections

Followed by Catfish: The TV Show (2012)

---

Soundtracks

"Nev Awake"
Written by Paul Cantelon
Performed by Paul Cantelon
Published by Twopar Music

User Reviews

Interesting, Different, lovely..... :)

loved this documentary, it was awesome. The tagline on Catfish's deceptively dark poster read "Don't let anyone tell you what it is." The studio is totally correct in saying this, but make sure everyone tells you how good it is. Catfish is a wild pastiche of genres crammed into a brilliant criticism of the Youtube Generation's presumption that the internet is a safe place. Unlike many other TV shows and newspaper articles that have tackled a similar topic, Catfish takes this criticism to a whole new level by documenting the entire process of catching a "catfish," a person who is not quite what he seems to be. Although the movie should be questioned in terms of its veritableness, it is thrilling, sad, and often funny account of a Facebook romance with a person who does not match their profile.

*Catfish is a hard film to describe without giving too much away. In short, the film's advertising inaccurately portrays the film. It is the supposedly true story of Nev Schulman and his Facebook friend Megan Faccio. Nev, a photographer that lives in New York, met Megan through her half-sister Abby, an eight year-old who sent Nev a painting of one of his photographs that was published in the New York Times. Nev begins to become romantically intertwined with Megan. But the more he finds out about her, the less he realizes he actually knows about Megan. Catfish had this vibe the entire film like it was leading towards something dark near its conclusion. As Nev makes his way to Michigan, you get more and more anxious as he nears his destination. Even the music gets really unsettling. Is Megan's family going to be a bunch of chainsaw wielding cannibals or have Angela and Vince been keeping a kidnapped girl named Megan chained in their basement for weeks to lead young, single guys out there for them to torture as some sort of twisted way to get off? No, it's nothing like that. Catfish never really became thrilling or even came near diving into dark territory. What Catfish winds up being is an interesting character study presented as a documentary. The film's heart resides in who Megan really is and how the entire experience affects Nev. Once the pieces of the puzzle are put together and everything falls into place, Catfish turns out to be a very raw, emotional, and heartfelt film. What's intriguing is the film revolves around Facebook and with The Social Network hitting theaters in about two weeks, it seems like a bit of a bold move. Catfish demands to be seen, if only for the excellent arguments you'll have about it on the drive home.