WubsTheFadger Short and Simple Review by WubsTheFadgerWord of Warning: I would recommend going into this film completely blind. Watching this film with no information about it is the best way to see it.The story is extremely gripping. This documentary/mystery film is full of twists, real life sadness, and a powerful story. It leaves you with many unanswered questions, but does so in a way that leaves you tingling in contemplation. The plot can be disturbing to some and at times it can be quite scary.The acting and storytelling is fluent. Most of the acting is done by people who had first hand accounts of the real life story. Some of the acting is reenacted which brings some depth and suspense to the story. The twist is very unexpected and it is deal with care.The tone throughout the film is very dark. There are moments that send chills down your spine. The pacing is okay but there are parts in the film that seemed out of place. In the beginning, I found myself getting lost in all the things that were going on.Pros: Great story, amazing twist, unanswered questions, powerful storytelling, consistent tone, and strong first hand accounts in regard to the storyCons: Okay pacing and some moments that were a bit confusingOverall Rating: 8.2P.S. If you enjoyed this film, you might also enjoy Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008). It is a documentary film that has the same mix of drama and crime.

Barak Gale I found the film dramatic, surprising, clever in its cinematography, thought provoking. So why did I rate it a "1"? I believe the film took unethical advantage of a family that had already suffered enormously from the disappearance of their boy, and portrayed them as exceedingly gullible, stupid and much worse, as possibly covering up their own heinous involvement, highlighting such possibility as real, even though hugely unlikely, but obviously creating effective tension and drama. That's great for a fictional film, beyond disturbing for a documentary.

yousefabdel (*May contain spoilers*) The Imposter was intriguing and breathtaking as well as one of the best documentaries created in my opinion. It surprised me how well the director Bart Layton was able to keep the viewer gripped to their seat throughout the entire film with such an obvious ending. From the start the viewer was lead on and hinted by the director about how events have unfolded and the truth about Frederic, the con artist who pretends to be a missing boy in America. The director somehow manages to keep the escalating suspense and tension however with what he has to work with. He somehow places you right in the moment of action. He manages to make you feel like you are with Frederic during tense moments in the film, that every decision he makes somehow will affect you and that you will either survive together or go down together. These effects are best achieved through first person views by placing the viewer in Frederic's position. I believe Layton executes this perfectly without having to rely on cliché methods such as first person angles or through dialog. The result is a perfect edge clinging suspense film. One scene which best highlights this is the moment when Frederic receives a photocopy of what the boy he is imposing as looks like. In this scene you share the dread with Frederic as he realizes that he looks nothing like the missing boy yet the American government and the family have already gotten too involved and will soon see that. Bart Layton took a unique story and managed to turn it into something greater. This truly is one of the few documentaries in my experience to be able to suck you deep into the action and leave you stranded there with thousands of questions while trying to find your way back to reality.

Coventry Good, respectfully made documentaries are very difficult to rate, and even more difficult to review! This is what I experience once again after watching Bart Leyton's uniquely jaw-dropping "The Imposter". It would have been so much easier if this were a fictional story… Then we would all be able to write that it's a bunch of implausible and far-fetched nonsense that sprung from the mind of an overly imaginative scriptwriter! But this is a true story and – believe me – incredibly hard to fathom! Leyton reconstructs, chronologically and patiently, the story of an unscrupulous French/Algerian fraud who incomprehensibly manages to impersonate a vanished 16-year-old Texan; misleading the boy's devastated family members as well as the authorities and the media. When apprehended in Spain, Frédéric Bourdin sees the opportunity to assume the identity of Nicholas Barclay, who disappeared without a trace in his hometown of San Antonio 3 years and 4 months ago. There's no way back when Nicholas' sister comes to bring him back to Texas, but even though he looks, sounds and acts completely different than Nicholas ever did, the family embraces Bourdin without questioning his grotesque made up testimonies. Only gradually, some people become skeptical and begin to dig a deeper in Bourdin's persona, like a social worker and a private detective. The most praiseworthy aspect about "The Imposter", and I believe this is entirely Bart Leyton's very own accomplishment, is that this documentary isn't manipulative or judgmental at all. The film doesn't condemn the family members for their blindness, naivety or how easily they were brainwashed. Quite important, because this made me – personally - feel less like a voyeur in observing all the pain these people had to endure. Bourdin himself is also even granted to elaborate on his miserable childhood and his urge to compensate through becoming a phony. Leyton's narrative style is captivating and honest, and you hardly even notice the whole thing gradually turning from documentary into a tense thriller/film-noir. "The Imposter" is something you just have to discover yourself, I can only repeat that it's an incredible story that you don't even fully when you are gazing at it.