I am somewhat reluctant to offer up an opinion of this documentary, as 24 hours later I still haven't decided how much of it I think is the real deal, but seeing how that is the whole point of it, I guess it's ripe for discussion. And also Facebook makes the perfect medium for such a dissection.
The "facts" are these: Nev Schulman is a yuppie Urban Outfitted New York photographer whose work receives the attention of a Midwestern prodigious child artist named Abby. After months of virtual interaction with Abby and her mother, and more importantly some steamy texts to and flattering (if a tad fawning phonecalls with) her sexpot sister Megan, documented in pixelated perfection by Schulman's brother Rel and fellow voyeur Henry Joost.
For a smitten Schulman it all seems to good to be true, and as event unfold you're likely to feel the same way. Things take a turn for the slightly sinister, and suddenly you're complicit is an escalating study of virtual veritas. At points the documentary is so tense it's like a mousetrap created on a mousepad, with Megan a cheesey sacrifice laid bare on the base of a social medium where Nev is delving ever deeper and teasing forth the piercing realisation of the truth.
Parts of it felt staged to me, and that's where my reluctance to talk about it comes from. Those involved in the production maintain that it is 100% truthful and they just lucked upon it. Ultimately, whether you believe them is irrelevant; it is the truth as they are presenting it, and that is what this film is about. In an age where every tap of the keyboard is a record of who we are and also who we choose to represent ourselves as, the truth has never been more incredible.
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