Film Review: The Imposter (15), (U.K. 2012) (English & Occasional Spanish with English Subtitles) (Director: Bart Layton), Sunday 19.08.2012 15:00,  The Cameo Cinema Screen One, Edinburgh

This is the documentary about the case where a child Nicholas Barclay went missing from Texas and there and a bit years later, a child found in a public phone box in Spain claims to be the child. The 'child' is reunited with family though is physically glaringly different. Therefore why is the person pretending to be the child and why is the family taking the child in, when the differences are so great that there are immediate questions.

The film felt frustrating. It was quite apparent that the imposter has mental health issues; has such a record with Interpol of pretending to be others that the French call him 'the chameleon'. Though it did not clarify why he was doing what he was doing, what from his claimed past was true, or what he had experienced in his past that had lead to pretend to be others (the imposter is interviewed and speaks straight to camera in the film). Even odder is the fact that the film gets nowhere in trying to clarify why the family took him in, to a degree that a relative is informed it is not Nicholas, and they still maintain the pretense. In that regard the questions posed at the beginning of the film get no clarification before the end of the film.

The film felt labored and heavy-handed. The way the film was structured and edited also felt confusing. Having the actual perpetrator within reenactments of situations, and within these have him speaking the voiceover you hear, gave the impression that he was being allowed to revel in the retelling of the criminal act that he engaged in. It was an unsatisfying watch and I was expecting greater depth then what was shown. Disappointing...

Rating: 05/10.