Netflix viewers have been left stunned by The Imposter, a documentary about the true story of Nicholas Barclay.
The film was originally released back in 2012 – but has found a new audience after recently being added to the streaming service’s catalogue.
Barclay went missing in San Antonio, Texas in 1994, at the age of 13. For three years, it was suspected that he had been murdered, but authorities were unable to find his body.
Three years later, in 1997, the family were informed that their son had been found, alive and well in Spain. He was flown back to the US and returned to them, stating that he had been kidnapped and was a victim of sex trafficking.
The family embraced him on his return, but concerns were raised after they sent him to a therapist.
While authorities were able to identify him through the three distinct tattoos Barclay had had at the...
The film was originally released back in 2012 – but has found a new audience after recently being added to the streaming service’s catalogue.
Barclay went missing in San Antonio, Texas in 1994, at the age of 13. For three years, it was suspected that he had been murdered, but authorities were unable to find his body.
Three years later, in 1997, the family were informed that their son had been found, alive and well in Spain. He was flown back to the US and returned to them, stating that he had been kidnapped and was a victim of sex trafficking.
The family embraced him on his return, but concerns were raised after they sent him to a therapist.
While authorities were able to identify him through the three distinct tattoos Barclay had had at the...
- 12/28/2022
- by Louis Chilton
- The Independent - Film
Jaume Collet-Serra's "Orphan" is one of my all-time favorite horror movies, and damn it, I am not ashamed to admit it! Collet-Serra took what was an admittedly silly premise and worked it into a stylish, amusing, creepy little slice of fun. The filmmaker, responsible for titles like "The Shallows," "Non-Stop," and the upcoming "Black Adam," is adept at a style I like to call art-trash — he blends artistic flourishes with pulpy, trashy premises to great effect. In Collet-Serra's hands, "Orphan" worked, and worked exceedingly well. The film focused on a little girl named Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman) adopted by a nice Connecticut couple (Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard). On the outside, Esther seemed sweet and almost unbelievably polite. But she was actually a murderous psychopath!
Killer kids are a dime a dozen in the horror genre, but "Orphan" threw in a whopper of a twist: Esther wasn't a child at all.
Killer kids are a dime a dozen in the horror genre, but "Orphan" threw in a whopper of a twist: Esther wasn't a child at all.
- 8/15/2022
- by Chris Evangelista
- Slash Film
Joe Exotic, Tiger King and the mullet that launched a thousand memes has become an instant megastar thanks to the Netflix documentary Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness which arrived on the streaming service at the end of March and has become the internet’s new obsession.
It’s a very weird doc that seems to have captured people’s imaginations and left them wanting more. The great news is that there are loads of totally off the wall documentaries out there to stream. We’ve rounded up some of the craziest to be your next-watch post Tiger King.
Finders Keepers
This 2015 documentary is so bonkers and also such an obvious companion piece to Tiger King we dedicated a whole article to it. It’s about two men engaged in a long feud about the ownership of a mummified human leg. One guy inadvertently bought the leg which was hidden...
It’s a very weird doc that seems to have captured people’s imaginations and left them wanting more. The great news is that there are loads of totally off the wall documentaries out there to stream. We’ve rounded up some of the craziest to be your next-watch post Tiger King.
Finders Keepers
This 2015 documentary is so bonkers and also such an obvious companion piece to Tiger King we dedicated a whole article to it. It’s about two men engaged in a long feud about the ownership of a mummified human leg. One guy inadvertently bought the leg which was hidden...
- 4/20/2020
- by Rosie Fletcher
- Den of Geek
Jim Cummings’s “Thunder Road” won the Grand Prize at the 44th edition of the Normandie-set Deauville American Film Festival.
“Thunder Road” follows a broken cop who comes to grips with a death of his mom when giving a heartfelt eulogy at her funeral. The movie previously won the Grand Jury Award at South by Southwest. Paname Distribution will release the movie in France. “Thunder Road” is an expanded version of Cummings’s 2016 short film by the same name, which had won Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize.
Variety‘s Owen Gleiberman described “Thunder Road” as an “uncanny tale of a Middle American cop who’s a funny, crazy, moving, indelibly authentic lost soul.”
Deauville festival’s jury, which was presided by French actress Sandrine Kiberlain, handed out two Jury Prizes, to Bart Layton’s heist drama “American Animals” and Jordana Spiro’s “Night Comes On.” Meanwhile, Marc Turtletaub’s “Puzzle...
“Thunder Road” follows a broken cop who comes to grips with a death of his mom when giving a heartfelt eulogy at her funeral. The movie previously won the Grand Jury Award at South by Southwest. Paname Distribution will release the movie in France. “Thunder Road” is an expanded version of Cummings’s 2016 short film by the same name, which had won Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize.
Variety‘s Owen Gleiberman described “Thunder Road” as an “uncanny tale of a Middle American cop who’s a funny, crazy, moving, indelibly authentic lost soul.”
Deauville festival’s jury, which was presided by French actress Sandrine Kiberlain, handed out two Jury Prizes, to Bart Layton’s heist drama “American Animals” and Jordana Spiro’s “Night Comes On.” Meanwhile, Marc Turtletaub’s “Puzzle...
- 9/8/2018
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Bart Layton’s true-crime heist caper about an incompetent plan to steal valuable books from a college library is a triumph
‘We’re talking about $12m in rare books, and one old lady guarding it!” This excited description sums up the market forces governing Bart Layton’s bizarrely gripping true-crime thriller – about a mind-bogglingly audacious and incompetent theft from an American library. Part of what was stolen was a rare edition of Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species, and the title is a quotation from Darwin about the flora and fauna of Kentucky. It could be that the robbers believed that people with the courage to carry out one single existentially thrilling and lucrative crime are the fittest to survive.
Layton is the British director who made the 2012 documentary The Imposter, about the notorious French conman Frédéric Bourdin, using interviews and dramatic reconstructions. American Animals develops this technique so...
‘We’re talking about $12m in rare books, and one old lady guarding it!” This excited description sums up the market forces governing Bart Layton’s bizarrely gripping true-crime thriller – about a mind-bogglingly audacious and incompetent theft from an American library. Part of what was stolen was a rare edition of Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species, and the title is a quotation from Darwin about the flora and fauna of Kentucky. It could be that the robbers believed that people with the courage to carry out one single existentially thrilling and lucrative crime are the fittest to survive.
Layton is the British director who made the 2012 documentary The Imposter, about the notorious French conman Frédéric Bourdin, using interviews and dramatic reconstructions. American Animals develops this technique so...
- 9/5/2018
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Exclusive: Bart Layton, the award-winning filmmaker whose latest movie American Animals wowed at Sundance Film Festival and SXSW earlier this year, has signed with CAA.
The British director made his feature debut in 2012 with the critically acclaimed doc The Imposter, about a Spanish man, Frédéric Bourdin, who claimed to be a missing Texas teenager, boldly deceiving the family and authorities. Layton won the BAFTA for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer for the film.
American Animals is Layton’s narrative debut, but it similarly tracks a stranger-than-fiction tale of four young men who brazenly attempt to execute one of the most audacious art heists in Us history. Determined to live lives that are out of the ordinary, they formulate a daring plan for the perfect robbery, only to discover that the plan has taken on a life of its own. The film stars Evan Peters, Barry Keoghan,...
The British director made his feature debut in 2012 with the critically acclaimed doc The Imposter, about a Spanish man, Frédéric Bourdin, who claimed to be a missing Texas teenager, boldly deceiving the family and authorities. Layton won the BAFTA for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer for the film.
American Animals is Layton’s narrative debut, but it similarly tracks a stranger-than-fiction tale of four young men who brazenly attempt to execute one of the most audacious art heists in Us history. Determined to live lives that are out of the ordinary, they formulate a daring plan for the perfect robbery, only to discover that the plan has taken on a life of its own. The film stars Evan Peters, Barry Keoghan,...
- 5/9/2018
- by Joe Utichi
- Deadline Film + TV
Here's the thing about the documentary The Imposter: It may well be the scariest non-scary movie you've ever seen. It's not a supernatural horror story or a creepy slasher fic or even exactly a psychological thriller, although it will get inside your head. It's the real-life story of a boy who went missing — and the grown-man who pretended to be him. You've heard of con artists before swindling people out of their money, but what happened here is somehow even more sinister. Because The Imposter shows you how a then-23-year-old Frédéric Bourdin pretended to be a 16-year-old Nicholas Barclay, despite looking nothing like him, and how Nicholas' family improbably accepted him as their own. Who was Nicholas Barclay? (Photo Credit: YouTube) Nicholas Patrick Barclay is the name of an American boy who disappeared from San Antonio, Texas at the age of 13. Born on New Year's Eve in 1980, Nicky was...
- 3/12/2018
- by Chelsea Duff
- In Touch Weekly
Exclusive: Netflix has acquired rights to David Grann’s 2008 New Yorker feature The Chameleon, in a package that has Mission: Impossible MI6 helmer Christopher McQuarrie developing to direct, with Wolf of Wall Street and The Sopranos‘ Terence Winter co-writing the script with Carl Capotorto. Winter and his wife Rachel Winter will produce with McQuarrie and his producing partner, Heather McQuarrie. The Chameleon is the chilling true story of Frédéric Bourdin, a young…...
- 7/26/2017
- Deadline
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50 fabulous documentary films, covering hard politics through to music, money and films that never were...
Thanks to streaming services such as Netflix, we’ve never had better access to documentaries. A whole new audience can discover that these real life stories are just as thrilling, entertaining, and incredible as the latest big-budget blockbuster. What’s more, they’re all true too. But with a new found glut of them comes the ever more impossible choice, what’s worth your time? Below is my pick of the 50 best modern feature length documentaries.
I’ve defined modern as being from 2000 onwards, which means some of the greatest documentaries ever made will not feature here. I’m looking at you Hoop Dreams.
50. McConkey (2013)
d. Rob Bruce, Scott Gaffney, Murray Wais, Steve Winter, David Zieff
Shane McConkey was an extreme skier and Base jumper who lived life on the edge, and very much to the full.
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50 fabulous documentary films, covering hard politics through to music, money and films that never were...
Thanks to streaming services such as Netflix, we’ve never had better access to documentaries. A whole new audience can discover that these real life stories are just as thrilling, entertaining, and incredible as the latest big-budget blockbuster. What’s more, they’re all true too. But with a new found glut of them comes the ever more impossible choice, what’s worth your time? Below is my pick of the 50 best modern feature length documentaries.
I’ve defined modern as being from 2000 onwards, which means some of the greatest documentaries ever made will not feature here. I’m looking at you Hoop Dreams.
50. McConkey (2013)
d. Rob Bruce, Scott Gaffney, Murray Wais, Steve Winter, David Zieff
Shane McConkey was an extreme skier and Base jumper who lived life on the edge, and very much to the full.
- 11/12/2015
- by simonbrew
- Den of Geek
Nancy is a psychological drama about a female imposter, who lies to gain emotional intimacy and love. The genesis for this script started with my fascination with imposter stories (the literary hoax of Jt LeRoy, Clark Rockefeller, Frédéric Bourdin in The Imposter, Gay Girl in Damascus fake blogger, etc). It’s only now that I’ve come to realize that my obsession with the fine line between truth/fiction, performance/reality and storytelling/confession, is something that started long before my intrigue with imposters. After a stint editing in the documentary world, I decided to try my hand at writing a screenplay. I had no idea what I was […]...
- 6/3/2015
- by Christina Choe
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Nancy is a psychological drama about a female imposter, who lies to gain emotional intimacy and love. The genesis for this script started with my fascination with imposter stories (the literary hoax of Jt LeRoy, Clark Rockefeller, Frédéric Bourdin in The Imposter, Gay Girl in Damascus fake blogger, etc). It’s only now that I’ve come to realize that my obsession with the fine line between truth/fiction, performance/reality and storytelling/confession, is something that started long before my intrigue with imposters. After a stint editing in the documentary world, I decided to try my hand at writing a screenplay. I had no idea what I was […]...
- 6/3/2015
- by Christina Choe
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
By Anjelica Oswald
Managing Editor
After narrowing the Oscar documentary feature shortlist to five at the 87th Academy Award nominations Jan. 15, a number of notable exclusions were featured, particularly Al Hicks‘ Keep on Keepin’ On, which documents the mentorship and friendship of a jazz legend and a blind piano prodigy, and Steve James‘ Life Itself, about the life and career of famed film critic Roger Ebert. (James is no stranger to snubs and the exclusion of his 1994 film Hoop Dreams led to rule reform within the documentary category.) Both films hold 97 percent positive ratings on Rotten Tomatoes.
Some films surprised when they didn’t even land a spot on the shortlist, such as Red Army, which examines the rise and fall of the Soviet Union’s hockey team from the perspective of its coach. That film holds a 100 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
In light of these best documentary feature snubs,...
Managing Editor
After narrowing the Oscar documentary feature shortlist to five at the 87th Academy Award nominations Jan. 15, a number of notable exclusions were featured, particularly Al Hicks‘ Keep on Keepin’ On, which documents the mentorship and friendship of a jazz legend and a blind piano prodigy, and Steve James‘ Life Itself, about the life and career of famed film critic Roger Ebert. (James is no stranger to snubs and the exclusion of his 1994 film Hoop Dreams led to rule reform within the documentary category.) Both films hold 97 percent positive ratings on Rotten Tomatoes.
Some films surprised when they didn’t even land a spot on the shortlist, such as Red Army, which examines the rise and fall of the Soviet Union’s hockey team from the perspective of its coach. That film holds a 100 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
In light of these best documentary feature snubs,...
- 1/23/2015
- by Anjelica Oswald
- Scott Feinberg
I am mostly against the critical valuation of real people in documentaries. I’ve written about this in the past, specifically in response to the reviews of The Imposter that judged subject Frederic Bourdin more than the film itself. I also wondered last fall whether it is okay to highlight the “best” characters of a given year in the form of the Cinema Eye Honors recognition of “The Unforgettables.” On that, I eventually came around to agreeing that memorable documentary characters deserve recognition if not a competitive prize that puts one above the rest (and the Ceh don’t mean for them to be “the best,” just unforgettable). Even calling them characters makes me conflicted at times, but within the film space and narrative, that is what they are. Ranking these characters, though, or calling them “best” or “worst,” isn’t something I feel comfortable doing. However, it is more acceptable to discuss a documentary character positively...
- 5/9/2014
- by Nonfics.com
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Katherine Butler, Film4’s Deputy Head of Film, is to become head of film and TV drama at UK indie Raw, producers of TV series Gold Rush and feature doc The Imposter.
After nine years at Channel 4’s film arm Film4, Butler will move to work alongside Raw’s Founder Dimitri Doganis, Creative Director Bart Layton, new CEO Joely Fether and head of development Zander Levy.
According to Raw, Butler will spearhead the company’s drive to become “a major force in film and drama production building a slate of bold, authored UK and Us productions”.
Butler will leave Film4 at the end of February.
Raw’s TV output includes Gold Rush, which airs on the Discovery Channel, and National Geographic’s Locked Up Abroad, as well as Channel 4 series Blackout.
Ties between Raw and Film4 are strong. While at Film4 Butler executive-produced Raw’s BAFTA-winning feature The Imposter about serial imposter Frederic Bourdin and the...
After nine years at Channel 4’s film arm Film4, Butler will move to work alongside Raw’s Founder Dimitri Doganis, Creative Director Bart Layton, new CEO Joely Fether and head of development Zander Levy.
According to Raw, Butler will spearhead the company’s drive to become “a major force in film and drama production building a slate of bold, authored UK and Us productions”.
Butler will leave Film4 at the end of February.
Raw’s TV output includes Gold Rush, which airs on the Discovery Channel, and National Geographic’s Locked Up Abroad, as well as Channel 4 series Blackout.
Ties between Raw and Film4 are strong. While at Film4 Butler executive-produced Raw’s BAFTA-winning feature The Imposter about serial imposter Frederic Bourdin and the...
- 1/9/2014
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Looking for suggestions of what to watch this Halloween night? Well, the Internet Movie Database may just have the exact recipe you're looking for to add a heaping helping of spooky to your evening!
1. Hellraiser
"Not long after the Rubik's cube was introduced to Americans came this tale of a different kind of puzzle box, the kind you really don't want to solve...or open. While the creepy Cenobites promise their victims eternity in a world of pleasure, pain and suffering, we only get see the pain and suffering part of that guarantee, underscored by the demon Pinhead's assurance that, in his words, "We'll Tear Your Soul Apaaaaart."
2. "The X-Files" episode "Home"
"There are many episodes of "The X-Files" that will keep a person up at night, but "Home" took the show's queasiness factor to new levels of ickiness by liberally playing with the horror trope of backwoods murderous maniacs.
1. Hellraiser
"Not long after the Rubik's cube was introduced to Americans came this tale of a different kind of puzzle box, the kind you really don't want to solve...or open. While the creepy Cenobites promise their victims eternity in a world of pleasure, pain and suffering, we only get see the pain and suffering part of that guarantee, underscored by the demon Pinhead's assurance that, in his words, "We'll Tear Your Soul Apaaaaart."
2. "The X-Files" episode "Home"
"There are many episodes of "The X-Files" that will keep a person up at night, but "Home" took the show's queasiness factor to new levels of ickiness by liberally playing with the horror trope of backwoods murderous maniacs.
- 10/30/2013
- by Uncle Creepy
- DreadCentral.com
Director Craig Zobel talks about Compliance, his new film based on a real-life hoax caller who preyed on fast-food chains
It's a busy Friday night in a branch of the Us fast-food chain ChickWich. A harassed, middle-aged manager takes a call from a police officer, who informs her that there is a thief on the premises: a female employee has stolen money from a customer's purse, and it is up to her to detain the teenage miscreant until the police arrive. As a law-abiding member of the public, the manager is eager to help. Eager to a fault, in fact. "I'll do everything you need," she says, as she prepares to carry out his first task: a strip-search of the employee. There's just one problem. The voice belongs not to a policeman but to a hoax-caller determined to test the limits of human subservience to authority.
Although this is the...
It's a busy Friday night in a branch of the Us fast-food chain ChickWich. A harassed, middle-aged manager takes a call from a police officer, who informs her that there is a thief on the premises: a female employee has stolen money from a customer's purse, and it is up to her to detain the teenage miscreant until the police arrive. As a law-abiding member of the public, the manager is eager to help. Eager to a fault, in fact. "I'll do everything you need," she says, as she prepares to carry out his first task: a strip-search of the employee. There's just one problem. The voice belongs not to a policeman but to a hoax-caller determined to test the limits of human subservience to authority.
Although this is the...
- 3/20/2013
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
Daniel Day-Lewis won best actor for Lincoln but the night belonged to the thriller Argo, and its director Ben Affleck
This was a Bafta ceremony which shared the prizes and spread the love.
The vast landslide for any one single film did not quite materialise, and Daniel Day-Lewis's much-expected best actor award for Lincoln was in fact a rare moment of Bafta love for Spielberg's very fine historical drama.
Yet the evening's big winner was unquestionably Ben Affleck's Argo, with best film and best director, an interesting, lightly fictionalised, intensely patriotic true-life historical caper-thriller about a CIA scheme to spirit Us embassy staff out of Iran during the 1979 hostage crisis by concocting a phoney movie, with elaborate script and set designs – and attempting to pass off the prisoners as film professionals who've been scouting locations in downtown Tehran and now need to leave, thank you very much.
It...
This was a Bafta ceremony which shared the prizes and spread the love.
The vast landslide for any one single film did not quite materialise, and Daniel Day-Lewis's much-expected best actor award for Lincoln was in fact a rare moment of Bafta love for Spielberg's very fine historical drama.
Yet the evening's big winner was unquestionably Ben Affleck's Argo, with best film and best director, an interesting, lightly fictionalised, intensely patriotic true-life historical caper-thriller about a CIA scheme to spirit Us embassy staff out of Iran during the 1979 hostage crisis by concocting a phoney movie, with elaborate script and set designs – and attempting to pass off the prisoners as film professionals who've been scouting locations in downtown Tehran and now need to leave, thank you very much.
It...
- 2/11/2013
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
British Academy Awards 2013: As in past years, strong Hollywood presence The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has announced the (mostly Hollywood-made and/or co-produced and/or distributed) BAFTA 2013 winners. For starters, as mentioned in the previous Alt Film Guide article, the Warner Bros. release Argo took home BAFTAs for Best Picture, Best Director (Ben Affleck), and Best Editor (William Goldenberg). (Pictured above: The Avengers star and British Academy Award presenter Tom Hiddleston on the red carpet.) American auteurs David O. Russell and Quentin Tarantino won the screenplay awards in, respectively, the adapted and original categories for two movies distributed by The Weinstein Company in North America: the comedy-drama Silver Linings Playbook and the violent, socially conscious period comedy-drama Django Unchained. In addition, Django earned Christoph Waltz his second British Academy Award -- Waltz's first win, also as Best Supporting Actor, was for another Tarantino effort, Inglourious Basterds...
- 2/11/2013
- by Anna Robinson
- Alt Film Guide
Pick Of The Week: New The Imposter (Indomina) In 1994, a San Antonio teenager stormed out of his home, and efforts to track him down failed. Two years later, his family received a call from a Spanish juvenile center claiming that the boy had been found. But the boy was in fact Frédéric Bourdin, an older French con artist whose appearance (and accent) bore little resemblance to missing teenager. Incredibly, the family brought Bourdin into their home, apparently deluding themselves into believing that this disturbing character was their kin. The entire true story is recounted masterfully in The ...
- 1/22/2013
- avclub.com
We reveal the 10 debut films in the frame, which include a documentary that doubles as a thriller, an urban drama set in east London, and a postmodern horror
Each year, the Guardian does its bit to contribute to the annual hysteria that is the movie awards season; though ours steers clear of glitzy dance routines, on-camera meltdowns and off-colour jokes about interpersonal relationships.
The Guardian first film award is designed to reward debut directors whose films went on release during 2012 in UK cinemas (festival screenings don't count), and the rollcall of previous winners comprises Joanna Hogg's Unrelated, Gideon Koppel's Sleep Furiously, Clio Barnard's The Arbor and, last year, The Guard, directed by John Michael McDonagh. There may have been a preponderance of British films there, but Britishness is certainly not a requirement: we are looking for ambition of theme, originality of vision, and proficiency of achievement. In other words,...
Each year, the Guardian does its bit to contribute to the annual hysteria that is the movie awards season; though ours steers clear of glitzy dance routines, on-camera meltdowns and off-colour jokes about interpersonal relationships.
The Guardian first film award is designed to reward debut directors whose films went on release during 2012 in UK cinemas (festival screenings don't count), and the rollcall of previous winners comprises Joanna Hogg's Unrelated, Gideon Koppel's Sleep Furiously, Clio Barnard's The Arbor and, last year, The Guard, directed by John Michael McDonagh. There may have been a preponderance of British films there, but Britishness is certainly not a requirement: we are looking for ambition of theme, originality of vision, and proficiency of achievement. In other words,...
- 1/22/2013
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
2012 was a strong year for documentaries, and the pick of them all was arguably The Imposter, and ahead of the film’s DVD release, which is today, we were fortunate enough to catch up (once again) with director Bart Layton.
The Imposter tells the story of Frédéric Bourdin, a French con-artist who miraculously impersonated Nicholas Barclay, a missing child a few years his junior. Taking place in 1997, Bourdin moved to America to live with the family who had been searching for their son for a number of years.
Having interviewed Bart (alongside Charlie Parker, a detective from the picture) prior to the film’s cinematic release, we have been given the chance to discuss with the talented filmmaker his life five months on, and how this extraordinary film has changed the prospective fortunes for him, as he begins a new project with Hollywood star James Franco.
He also discusses his...
The Imposter tells the story of Frédéric Bourdin, a French con-artist who miraculously impersonated Nicholas Barclay, a missing child a few years his junior. Taking place in 1997, Bourdin moved to America to live with the family who had been searching for their son for a number of years.
Having interviewed Bart (alongside Charlie Parker, a detective from the picture) prior to the film’s cinematic release, we have been given the chance to discuss with the talented filmmaker his life five months on, and how this extraordinary film has changed the prospective fortunes for him, as he begins a new project with Hollywood star James Franco.
He also discusses his...
- 1/7/2013
- by Stefan Pape
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Lawless; The Girl; The Imposter
Australian-born film-maker John Hillcoat is an often underrated auteur whose arresting filmography spans the broiling prison rebellion of Ghosts… of the Civil Dead, through the rugged western terrain of The Proposition to the bleak apocalypse of The Road, the last beautifully (but unpopularly) adapted from Cormac McCarthy's famously "unfilmable novel". Collaborating frequently with writer and composer Nick Cave, Hillcoat returns obsessively to themes of familial loyalty and modern mythology, with a quasi-biblical sense of archetypal justice and retribution often firing the infernal engine of his dramas.
Fittingly, family, mythology and vengeful justice are all at the heart of Lawless (2012, Momentum, 18), screenwriter Cave's adaptation of Matt Bondurant's visceral historical novel The Wettest County in the World. Handsomely set in prohibition-era Virginia (Benoît Delhomme's location cinematography conjures a perfect blend of pastoral lyricism and brutal violence), the film follows the changing fortunes of the Bondurant brothers,...
Australian-born film-maker John Hillcoat is an often underrated auteur whose arresting filmography spans the broiling prison rebellion of Ghosts… of the Civil Dead, through the rugged western terrain of The Proposition to the bleak apocalypse of The Road, the last beautifully (but unpopularly) adapted from Cormac McCarthy's famously "unfilmable novel". Collaborating frequently with writer and composer Nick Cave, Hillcoat returns obsessively to themes of familial loyalty and modern mythology, with a quasi-biblical sense of archetypal justice and retribution often firing the infernal engine of his dramas.
Fittingly, family, mythology and vengeful justice are all at the heart of Lawless (2012, Momentum, 18), screenwriter Cave's adaptation of Matt Bondurant's visceral historical novel The Wettest County in the World. Handsomely set in prohibition-era Virginia (Benoît Delhomme's location cinematography conjures a perfect blend of pastoral lyricism and brutal violence), the film follows the changing fortunes of the Bondurant brothers,...
- 1/6/2013
- by Mark Kermode
- The Guardian - Film News
The Imposter
Stars: Adam O’Brian, Frédéric Bourdin, Carey Gibson, Anna Ruben | Directed by Bart Layton
I was sorry to have missed The Imposter in the cinema last year, so I was very glad to get the chance the chance to cover the DVD review. As you may be aware, The Imposter is a documentary about Frédéric Bourdin, a French conman who impersonated Nicholas Barclay, a Texan teenager who had been missing for three years. The film is comprised of interviews with Bourdin, Barclay’s family and authorities involved with the case, as well as dramatic reconstructions of key events in the story.
Although the events portrayed by the film are all matters of fact, it’s easy to use words such as ‘story’ and ‘plot’ to describe it given how similar it is to a tightly wound potboiler thriller. As well as the Frederick Forsyth-style intricacies of the intrigue,...
Stars: Adam O’Brian, Frédéric Bourdin, Carey Gibson, Anna Ruben | Directed by Bart Layton
I was sorry to have missed The Imposter in the cinema last year, so I was very glad to get the chance the chance to cover the DVD review. As you may be aware, The Imposter is a documentary about Frédéric Bourdin, a French conman who impersonated Nicholas Barclay, a Texan teenager who had been missing for three years. The film is comprised of interviews with Bourdin, Barclay’s family and authorities involved with the case, as well as dramatic reconstructions of key events in the story.
Although the events portrayed by the film are all matters of fact, it’s easy to use words such as ‘story’ and ‘plot’ to describe it given how similar it is to a tightly wound potboiler thriller. As well as the Frederick Forsyth-style intricacies of the intrigue,...
- 1/5/2013
- by Jack Kirby
- Nerdly
The Imposter | Take This Waltz | The Girl | Doctor Who: Legacy | British Legends Of Stage And Screen
The Imposter
As with all the best true stories, this one offers a premise that you just couldn't make up – it would be considered too far fetched. After Texan teen Nicholas Barclay disappeared in 1994, his family slowly grew to accept they'd almost definitely never see him again, certainly not alive. But three years and four months later they received news that the boy had been located in Spain. What they found wasn't Nicholas but a completely different person, a confidence trickster called Frédéric Bourdin, who was seven years older and with different colour hair and looks from the person he was impersonating. You'd expect this sad story to end there, but there's more. A lot more. Rather than turn away such an obvious fraud, the Barclay family took Bourdin in. They had lost...
The Imposter
As with all the best true stories, this one offers a premise that you just couldn't make up – it would be considered too far fetched. After Texan teen Nicholas Barclay disappeared in 1994, his family slowly grew to accept they'd almost definitely never see him again, certainly not alive. But three years and four months later they received news that the boy had been located in Spain. What they found wasn't Nicholas but a completely different person, a confidence trickster called Frédéric Bourdin, who was seven years older and with different colour hair and looks from the person he was impersonating. You'd expect this sad story to end there, but there's more. A lot more. Rather than turn away such an obvious fraud, the Barclay family took Bourdin in. They had lost...
- 1/5/2013
- by Phelim O'Neill
- The Guardian - Film News
Bart Layton.s The Imposter premiered to acclaim in 2012, eventually earning a theatrical release. The film went on to air at other international and local festivals, earning the Grand Jury Documentary prize at the Miami International Film festival as well as earning the Best Documentary distinction at the British Independent Film Awards. The bottom line: a lot of people like it, and if you haven't gotten a chance to catch the documentary, you.ll be able to do so when The Imposter hits DVD on January 22, 2013. Last year featured a slew of great documentary DVD releases, including The Ambassador and Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, to name a few. Now, 2013 seems to be starting off with another bang with the release of The Imposter. The flick follows Frédéric Bourdin, a Frenchman who has posed as missing persons in the past. In the late nineties, Bourdin claimed to be a ...
- 1/3/2013
- cinemablend.com
Indomina Releasing has finally granted The Imposter a DVD release, and it's coming at us sooner rather than later. Look for the flick in stores and on various VOD platforms beginning on January 22, 2013!
The film, directed by Bart Layton, stars Frédéric Bourdin, Carey Gibson, Beverly Dollarhide, Charlie Parker, Nancy Fisher, Bryan Gibson, Bruce Perry, and Philip French. No word on any special features.
Synopsis
A gripping thriller straight out of real life, The Imposter is an original film experience that walks the razor's edge between true-crime documentary and stylish noir mystery. The twisting, turning tale begins with an unsettling disappearance--that of Nicholas Barclay, a 13-year-old Texas boy who vanishes without a trace. Three and a half years later, staggering news arrives: The boy has been found, thousands of miles from home in Spain, saying he survived a mind-boggling ordeal of kidnap and torture by shadowy captors. His family is ecstatic...
The film, directed by Bart Layton, stars Frédéric Bourdin, Carey Gibson, Beverly Dollarhide, Charlie Parker, Nancy Fisher, Bryan Gibson, Bruce Perry, and Philip French. No word on any special features.
Synopsis
A gripping thriller straight out of real life, The Imposter is an original film experience that walks the razor's edge between true-crime documentary and stylish noir mystery. The twisting, turning tale begins with an unsettling disappearance--that of Nicholas Barclay, a 13-year-old Texas boy who vanishes without a trace. Three and a half years later, staggering news arrives: The boy has been found, thousands of miles from home in Spain, saying he survived a mind-boggling ordeal of kidnap and torture by shadowy captors. His family is ecstatic...
- 1/3/2013
- by Uncle Creepy
- DreadCentral.com
Even the most banal phrases have their uses, and when it came to Bart Layton's documentary “The Imposter” earlier this year, it's easy to understand why so many critics reached for that fusty standby: “The truth is stranger than fiction.” Then again, “The Imposter” – one of 15 shortlisted films vying for an Oscar nod in the Best Documentary Feature category – tells a story that is stranger even than most truths. Centered on the charismatic, frightening figure of Frédéric Bourdin a shapeshifting con artist and serial identity thief who claim to have masqueraded as over 500 people in his lifetime,...
- 12/29/2012
- by Guy Lodge
- Hitfix
Consider this: A film that has a con-man, a private investigator, an FBI special agent, a psychiatrist and a former Us counsel among its subjects; a bizarre case of stolen identity at the center of its plot; and an emotionally charged narrative of a distressed mother and a sister of a missing sixteen year old boy. Now picture all of the above with great camera-work and high-production values. The Imposter has all the elements that make for a commercially viable and entertaining thriller as we know it, excepting that, it is not a work of fiction. It is a documentary.
In 1994, a thirteen year old boy, Nicholas, goes missing in Texas, America. Three and a half years later, his family receives news that he has been found thousands of miles away in Spain. This found “Nicholas” is in-fact a 23 year old imposter, Frédéric Bourdin who has darker skin and brown...
In 1994, a thirteen year old boy, Nicholas, goes missing in Texas, America. Three and a half years later, his family receives news that he has been found thousands of miles away in Spain. This found “Nicholas” is in-fact a 23 year old imposter, Frédéric Bourdin who has darker skin and brown...
- 10/29/2012
- by Shazia Javed
- DearCinema.com
In 1997 Frenchman Frederic Bourdin persuaded an American family he was their missing teenage son. Now a new film revisits the events, uncovering an even murkier tale
After his film became a word of mouth hit at the Sundance festival in January, British director Bart Layton was flown to Hollywood for "a mad tour" of the big studios. When he got there, though, he realised no one quite knew what to make of his work. "People are desperate to find categories," he says. "They say, is it documentary? Is it fiction? Americans refer to everything that isn't documentary as 'narrative', but I would absolutely argue that this is a narrative film."
"This" is a documentary called The Imposter, the story of Frédéric Bourdin, a mixed-race Parisian who, in the late-90s, adopted the identity of Nicholas Barclay, a boy seven years his junior. Bourdin's age – 23 – and appearance – stubbled and swarthy – didn't...
After his film became a word of mouth hit at the Sundance festival in January, British director Bart Layton was flown to Hollywood for "a mad tour" of the big studios. When he got there, though, he realised no one quite knew what to make of his work. "People are desperate to find categories," he says. "They say, is it documentary? Is it fiction? Americans refer to everything that isn't documentary as 'narrative', but I would absolutely argue that this is a narrative film."
"This" is a documentary called The Imposter, the story of Frédéric Bourdin, a mixed-race Parisian who, in the late-90s, adopted the identity of Nicholas Barclay, a boy seven years his junior. Bourdin's age – 23 – and appearance – stubbled and swarthy – didn't...
- 8/17/2012
- by Damon Wise
- The Guardian - Film News
Third poster for Bart Layton's The Imposter. "The greatest mystery in the disappearance of Nicolas Barclay is the day he came home" This is one film I am super-keen to see. With such a plot (read below the poster), it's impossible not to be intrigued. The documentary opened on July 13th via Indomina Releasing, with people in the mix including Frédéric Bourdin, Carey Gibson, Beverly Dollarhide, Charlie Parker, Nancy Fisher, Bryan Gibson, Bruce Perry and Philip French. Synopsis: "There Are Two Sides To Every Lie" A gripping thriller straight out of real life, The Imposter is an original film experience that walks the razor's edge between true-crime documentary and stylish noir mystery. The twisting, turning tale begins with an unsettling disappearance--that of Nicholas Barclay, a 13 year-old Texas boy who vanishes without a trace. Three and a half years later, staggering news arrives: the boy has been found, thousands of miles from home in Spain,...
- 7/25/2012
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Halfway into its running time, Bart Layton’s documentary The Imposter hits a patch of sameness and looks to have exhausted its reason for being. But Lordy, can looks be deceiving.The film centers on a homeless, 23-year-old French-Algerian wacko named Frédéric Bourdin, who, for reasons it would take a battery of shrinks to explain, decides to pass himself off as a teenage kidnap victim in hopes of attracting both attention and, perhaps, love. (“Nobody ever gave me a childhood.”) In interviews with the filmmaker, Bourdin talks frankly, at times even exuberantly, about scamming police and social workers in Spain (where he’d been “found”), combing lists of children around the world who’d disappeared for a suitable candidate for impersonation; and settling, more or less at random, on a 13-year-old San Antonio boy named Nicholas Barclay, who’d vanished three and a half years earlier on his way home from playing basketball.
- 7/13/2012
- by David Edelstein
- Vulture
The Barclay family suffered a devastating blow in 1994 when 13-year-old Nicholas disappeared without a trace. However, 1997 brought a sign of hope -- the young boy had been found in Spain. Seemingly damaged due to sexual abuse by his captors, he was ready to come home. The only problem? It wasn't Nicholas at all -- Frenchman Frédéric Bourdin adopted his identity, fooling authorities and the Barclay clan themselves into thinking that he was the real deal. As you might imagine, it wasn't long before someone started to doubt this ruse (detective Charlie Parker, oddly enough, noticed the ears of Bourdin and Nicholas didn't match up), but the exposed identity only makes the situation uglier, ferreting some nasty theories concerning the whereabouts of the real Nicholas Barclay. It's a story that would be scoffed at in a scripted drama, but it's that same unbelievable, stranger-than-fiction quality that makes Bart Layton's "The Imposter...
- 7/13/2012
- by Christopher Bell
- The Playlist
The Imposter Indomina Releasing Director: Bart Layton Cast: Frédéric Bourdin, Carey Gibson, Beverly Dollarhide, Charlie Parker, Nancy Fisher, Bryan Gibson, Bruce Perry, Philip French, Adam O’Brian, Anna Ruben, Cathy Dresbach, Alan Teichman, Ivan Villanueva, Maria Jesus Hoyos Screened at: A&E, NYC, 7/3/12 Opens: July 13, 2012 Admit it: You’ve sometimes imagined what it would seem to be like someone else; to have Bill Gates’s money, President Obama’s prestige, Tom Cruise’s popularity, Brad Pitt’s looks, Angelina Jolie’s lips. But how often have you wished to actually Be someone else? There are precedents. in Daniel Vigne’s movie “The Return of Martin Guerre,” a man leaves his family and friends for the war [ Read More ]...
- 7/13/2012
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
There are rules you're supposed to follow when you make a documentary.
Bart Layton just happens to think they're ridiculous.
"There's this idea of documentary purity that is not terribly realistic," says the British director, whose debut feature, "The Imposter," sails into limited release this weekend on the strength of a 96% Rotten Tomatoes rating (at press time). "I think everyone who's ever picked up a camera or sat in an edit suite will be aware that there are lots of subjective decisions being made. This idea that you can create a film that is purely objective, it's just not a realistic ideology."
Layton's film tells the stranger-than-fiction story of Frédéric Bourdin, a charming young congenital liar who in 1997 persuaded authorities on two continents that he was Nicholas Barclay, a Texas boy who had gone missing three years earlier at age 13. Somehow, even Barclay's family fell for his act, taking him...
Bart Layton just happens to think they're ridiculous.
"There's this idea of documentary purity that is not terribly realistic," says the British director, whose debut feature, "The Imposter," sails into limited release this weekend on the strength of a 96% Rotten Tomatoes rating (at press time). "I think everyone who's ever picked up a camera or sat in an edit suite will be aware that there are lots of subjective decisions being made. This idea that you can create a film that is purely objective, it's just not a realistic ideology."
Layton's film tells the stranger-than-fiction story of Frédéric Bourdin, a charming young congenital liar who in 1997 persuaded authorities on two continents that he was Nicholas Barclay, a Texas boy who had gone missing three years earlier at age 13. Somehow, even Barclay's family fell for his act, taking him...
- 7/13/2012
- by Michael Hogan
- Huffington Post
Bart Layton’s excellent The Imposter, one of the most inventive and cinematic documentaries of recent years, opens theatrically today. The following interview was originally published on the eve of its Sundance Film Festival premiere.
More and more often different mediums and genres of filmmaking are being meshed together and Bart Layton’s newest documentary The Imposter is no different. The film’s official synopsis declares, “Documentary meets Film Noir in this astonishing true story which has all the twists and turns of a great thriller.” But this is not just a hoax to get people into the theatre. Based on an extremely bizarre story of a young man who infiltrates a family by posing as their missing son, the film follows an intricate plot of testimonies that aim to recreate the story’s noir-ish tone. Just as the adventure of making the film and uncovering the facts led Layton...
More and more often different mediums and genres of filmmaking are being meshed together and Bart Layton’s newest documentary The Imposter is no different. The film’s official synopsis declares, “Documentary meets Film Noir in this astonishing true story which has all the twists and turns of a great thriller.” But this is not just a hoax to get people into the theatre. Based on an extremely bizarre story of a young man who infiltrates a family by posing as their missing son, the film follows an intricate plot of testimonies that aim to recreate the story’s noir-ish tone. Just as the adventure of making the film and uncovering the facts led Layton...
- 7/12/2012
- by Alexandra Byer
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Nicholas Barclay disappeared from his family home in San Antonio, Texas at the tender age of thirteen. Three years and four months later, an unaccompanied 16-year-old boy is found in France. When circumstances lead French authorities to believe he is Nicholas Barclay, he’s swiftly returned to a concerned family who welcome him all too easily. However, as the FBI and a sole private investigator notice subtle differences that, for some reason, have been overlooked by the family, it soon becomes clear that so-called Nicholas Barclay is in fact impostor Frédéric Bourdin (portrayed in interviews and dramatisations by Adam O’Brian).
The real-life story of Bourdain who was, at the time of his eventual imprisonment, dubbed by many sources “The Chameleon”, The Imposter mixes a concoction of styles and elements synonymous with the documentary genre in bold and interesting new ways. It’s a technique that, through writer and director...
The real-life story of Bourdain who was, at the time of his eventual imprisonment, dubbed by many sources “The Chameleon”, The Imposter mixes a concoction of styles and elements synonymous with the documentary genre in bold and interesting new ways. It’s a technique that, through writer and director...
- 6/21/2012
- by Jamie Neish
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Check out the trailer for Indomina's The Imposter, directed by Bart Layton, starring Frédéric Bourdin, Carey Gibson and Beverly Dollarhide This is one eerie-looking film! A masterfully-made trailer will really get you both interested and spooked at the story (below) of the film which opens July 13th, and also includes Charlie Parker, Nancy Fisher, Bryan Gibson, Bruce Perry and Philip French. "There Are Two Sides To Every Lie" A gripping thriller straight out of real life, The Imposter is an original film experience that walks the razor's edge between true-crime documentary and stylish noir mystery. The twisting, turning tale begins with an unsettling disappearance--that of Nicholas Barclay, a 13 year-old Texas boy who vanishes without a trace. Three and a half years later, staggering news arrives: the boy has been found, thousands of miles from home in Spain, saying he survived a mind-boggling ordeal of kidnap and torture by shadowy captors.
- 5/31/2012
- Upcoming-Movies.com
One of my favorite documentaries I saw at Sundance 2012 was The Imposter, about Frédéric Bourdin, known as "The Chameleon", who successfully pretended he was a 16 year old missing boy and was brought home to a Texas family back in 1997. It's a fascinating nearly-unbelievable doc (read my review) about how this guy could convince authorities and this entire family that he really was their missing son now found in Europe. At the end of the festival, we caught up with the doc's director Bart Layton and producer Dimitri Doganis for a discussion on how they made the doc, how it came together, and their stories along the way. We filmed the interview on location at Sundance (apologies for the brief background noise) and spoke with Bart and Dimitri about various aspects of the film that we found so interesting. This is our full chat in uncut form. Watch the ...
- 2/2/2012
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
The Chameleon Directed By: Jean-Paul Salomé Written By: Jean-Paul Salomé, Natalie Carter and Christophe D'Antonio (story) Starring: Ellen Barkin, Famke Janssen, Marc-André Grondin, Emilie De Ravin and Nick Stahl The Chameleon (Le caméléon) is a fictionalized account of the bizarre true story of Frédéric Bourdin, an imposter who passed himself off as a missing teenager from Louisiana. Journalist Christophe D’Antonio chronicled the exploits of Bourdin in a 2007 book [1]. Bourdin is reputed to have assumed multiple identities over a series of years, but this particular tale concerns the case that ultimately led to his arrest. A poor family from the Bayou is astonished when a young man in France claims he is their missing son Nicholas (Marc-André Grondin), who disappeared when he was thirteen years old. Nicholas returns home reclusive and withdrawn, no doubt a result of being kidnapped, raped and traumatized. However, his family’s response to his return is puzzling,...
- 7/12/2011
- by Shannon
- FilmJunk
From Ovation Entertainment and director Jean-Paul Salomé comes The Chameleon; the true story of serial imposter Frédéric Bourdin who in 1997 took the identity of Nicholas Barclay, a lost son of a family in San Antonio, Texas.
In 1997, Nicholas Barclay mysteriously resurfaces long after his disappearance. A fractured family welcomes him home after years of anguish. A reunion where tensions simmer beneath the surface, the family begin to sense that something is not right. But, if he is who he says, what is the family hiding? As pieces of a mysterious puzzle are put together, an unveiled past will reveal deep and dark secrets. It only a matter of time until the chameleon reveals his true colours.
To win, email encore@focalattractions.com.au and tell us, have you ever pretended to be somebody else?...
In 1997, Nicholas Barclay mysteriously resurfaces long after his disappearance. A fractured family welcomes him home after years of anguish. A reunion where tensions simmer beneath the surface, the family begin to sense that something is not right. But, if he is who he says, what is the family hiding? As pieces of a mysterious puzzle are put together, an unveiled past will reveal deep and dark secrets. It only a matter of time until the chameleon reveals his true colours.
To win, email encore@focalattractions.com.au and tell us, have you ever pretended to be somebody else?...
- 4/12/2011
- by Miguel Gonzalez
- Encore Magazine
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