I did a search but found nothing specific on this movie… just what I assumed to be mentions in long general movie threads.
I first heard about the movie a few months ago in an article that spoiled it so I’m not sure how important it is not to but if you don’t want it to be spoiled you are forewarned.
Saw it a couple days ago and liked it alot …even if it is not 100% true in it’s portrayal of the events.
I’m wondering if the filmmakers have ever acknowledged playing a bit loose with the facts particularly their knowledge or level of scepticism (sp?) as the whole thing played out.
I watched it about a month ago without knowing the “twist” so to speak. I’d seen the trailers and seen the whole “don’t learn about it before you watch it!!!” reviews and all. In the end, I thought it was a pretty good movie but when everything became clear, I couldn’t help but think “that’s it?” Kind of like making a documentary about how money is disappearing from a cash register with the big reveal being that the employee you suspect of taking it is actually taking it. Surprise!
Surprisingly, there’s not much of a local buzz about it. A friend of mine did run into her at a store the other day, and said her husband was there and there was very much a feel of “don’t even look at us or I’ll make you regret it.”
Very strange film. I have a hard time believing it’s all true, it just seems too scripted. But I would be surprised if it was totally made up as well. The local people ring true, if that makes any sense. And there’s no real factual inconsistencies - all the places and all that are correct. I know people who grew up in that neighborhood. We’re all weirded out by the whole thing.
It actually got spoiled for me by a joke in the show Community that coincidentally aired two days after I got this movie from Netflix but to be honest the “Twist” was pretty obvious anyway. It was pretty clear very early things were not what they appeared to be.
Even knowing how that part would play out, I still found it a strange and interesting movie. I am not sure I would say it was “good” but I didn’t regret watching it.
If you can be shocked by the idea that some folks on the internet aren’t 100% accurate in how they portray themselves, then prepare to be blown away.
To me, it’s pretty obvious that the filmmakers worked backwards on this. I’m sure they quickly and easily deduced that this wasn’t an 8-year-old prodigy they were dealing with and when the relationship with the “older sister” takes off, they mapped out the film’s plot line from there.
Presenting the film with the slow reveal that unfurls would hinge on the audience buying into the notion that the premise was originally centered on an innocent friendship that develops between an adult and child. That is to say they began with what would have to be the absolute most boring idea for a film since the dawn of time.
I agree they had probably figured out what was going on before they ever turned on the cameras. And the supposed twist is not going to be surprising to an audience of regular message board users, particularly since you find out something is wrong very early on.
Know anything about the beach house? I’m a troll and have been to Ishpeming so I realize that we’re not talking Cape Cod prices. Was it suggested that the family owned it? There was another little girl there so it could have belonged to someone else.
I liked the father quite a bit…I’d especially like to think that his lines werern’t scripted.
Oh yeah, I immediately recognized the neighborhood the beach house was in. Heck, I could probably find the exact house if I went looking. It’s in Marquette, not Ishpeming (Ishpeming has no waterfront.) So, it’s maybe a 20-30 min drive away. There’s a spectacular city park a little farther down the beach. I kayak over there a lot.
I thought the movie implied that the house itself belonged to someone else, maybe a family friend. Those are definitely homes that people live in, not cabins or anything like that. Not super pricey when it comes to lakefront property - the houses tend to be 30+ years old and they’re VERY close together - but still, I’d guess out of the price range of the family in the movie. I could be wrong, of course, but it was a second home or cabin, it’s much more common around here to have a cabin off on a small lake in the woods somewhere, or farther out of town. That neighborhood is in a secluded area, but it’s definitely in town, and Marquette’s a much bigger town that Ishpeming. So all that adds up to “friend’s house” to me.
The thing that makes me suspicious is that presumably everyone in the movie has to give consent to be shown. Why would they? Why reveal how totally dishonest you were to the entire world?
While watching it, I was 95% convinced that the big twist would be that in fact it was all fictional, and everyone was an actor playing a role. But that didn’t appear to be the case.
Has anyone watched the20/20 episode with Angela? I wanted to be sad and ashamed for her lonely attempt to create excitement in her life, but she seems unremorseful and kind of… undeserving of any sympathy.
I may be the only person who saw this in the theater when it played. I went in only knowing the title and absolutely nothing about the plot, let alone that there was a “twist.” I found it fascinating and entertaining, in a slightly depressing sort of way. I liked it, a lot, and I don’t particularly care what the truth is, if it’s real, or a mockumentary-ish film. Like Exit Through The Gift Shop, it works for me both ways.
From what I understand in reading about it online it’s more or less understood or accepted at this point that that it’s a completely fake documentary even if the filmmakers have not fessed up yet.
Doesn’t mean it’s not a good movie, but it’s certainly not “real” re all this stuff actually happening as portrayed.
I saw this one in the theater as well. It seemed so obvious to me that the persona of the little girl was a fake that I didn’t realize that was supposed to be the twist until it was almost over. I kept expecting something else to happen!
As I was watching it niggled at my brain that maybe all wasn’t as it should be, but I usually like watching plots unfold and rarely jump ahead trying to outguess or predict where any movie is going. I’d rather be in the moment, so I was fairly surprised.
Watching the trailer after the fact, I was amused that the trailer made it seem like a horror movie done in the Blair Witch style.