The Imposter (2012)
Average Rating: 8/10
Reviews Counted: 108
Fresh: 103 | Rotten: 5
Despite its true-crime trappings, The Imposter is an utterly gripping and sometimes heartbreaking documentary thriller cleverly told with narrative flair.
Average Rating: 8/10
Critic Reviews: 29
Fresh: 27 | Rotten: 2
Despite its true-crime trappings, The Imposter is an utterly gripping and sometimes heartbreaking documentary thriller cleverly told with narrative flair.
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Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 87,679
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Movie Info
Nicholas was 13 the day he disappeared (June 13, 1994). He would have been 16 and 8 months when he was reported found in Spain (October 7, 1997)... In 1994 a 13-year-old boy disappears without a trace from San Antonio, Texas. Three and a half years later he is found alive, thousands of miles away in a village in southern Spain with a story of kidnap and torture. His family is overjoyed to bring him home. But all is not quite as it seems. The boy bears many of the same distinguishing marks he
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All Critics (108) | Top Critics (29) | Fresh (103) | Rotten (5)
In the annals of forged identity flicks, this is a towering Everest, dwarfing the deceivers in the likes of Catch Me If You Can and F for Fake.
Top CriticThis is edge-of-your-seat stuff and the difficulty is in the telling of the tale. To give any of this film away is a crime. You simply have to see it for yourself.
The most fascinating aspect of the movie is why the missing boy's family believed the imposter's story.
You may begin to wonder if you aren't being conned by the movie yourself.
You couldn't make this stuff up - and no one would buy it as fiction. But as a documentary, it's a different matter.
Beverly Dollarhide, Nicholas's mother, says of the period after her son's disappearance, "My main goal in life at that time was not to think." Apparently, the filmmakers have taken a cue from her.
Credit director Bart Layton for taking a subject that appears barely capable of propping up hour-long, true-crime cable programming and turning it into compelling, full-length documentary.
The Imposter at every stage reveals another layer of the bizarreness of which human beings are capable.
The Imposter has many lessons; for the rest of us, it reinforces the golden rule: never assume anything about anyone
The revelations never stop. The title tells us what the story is about, but it is impossible to imagine the complex elements that involve not only the central character, but those who accept him as the person he pretends to be
The film looks like many a television crime series, and is as manipulative. With no disclaimer or separation, its method screams that this is full honest fact.
Few films in the past year have matched the narrative cunning of Bart Layton's captivating true-crime documentary...
With his first feature doc, Layton proves himself not only adept at seeking out such true-life tales, but also telling them with the flair of a naturally gifted storyteller.
This documentary film, like 'Catfish' a couple of years ago, is about a clever impersonator, but 'The Impostor' is an even stranger and more serious story, and by the time you get near the end of this bizarre tale, it gets even stranger than that.
A gripping thriller, heartbreaking family drama, and fascinating true-crime saga all in one package.
Intriguing fictionalized true-crime psychological thriller doc.
... one of the most involving and compelling documentaries to come around in quite some time.
A mesmerizing con-artist comedy and a chilling true crime thriller...
You won't believe this true story
Superbly crafted documentary about a missing teenager who mysteriously resurfaces after three years, prompting a riveting, better-than-fiction Cold Case-style drama.
If only the movie didn't almost glamorise Bourdin's action, they'd have been onto a real masterpiece.
If you are a fan of true crime stories or the workings of the human mind, The Imposter will blow you away.
... both interesting and repellent.
An unnerving experience and a brilliant piece of documentary filmmaking that peels back the layers on one of the most perplexing stories
Audience Reviews for The Imposter
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Frédéric Bourdin: A new identity was a real passport, an American passport, I could go to the US, go to the school there, live with that family and just being someone and don't never again to to worry about being identified.
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Foreign Titles
- El impostor (ES)
