0:00:01.191,0:00:06.023
Hi, my name is Tony and this is Every [br]Frame a Painting, where I analyze film form.

0:00:06.023,0:00:10.255
Today's movie is The Imposter, [br]from 2012, directed by Bart Layton.

0:00:10.255,0:00:12.078
If you haven't seen it,[br]please read nothing more.

0:00:12.078,0:00:14.204
Don't even look up[br]what genre this thing is.

0:00:14.204,0:00:18.306
Just close this video, browse over to Netflix [br]and watch it, because I am gonna spoil everything.

0:00:18.306,0:00:21.316
You have 5 seconds[br]to terminate this tape.

0:00:21.316,0:00:22.087
Ready?

0:00:22.087,0:00:26.774
5, 4, 3, 2

0:00:28.711,0:00:30.020
Let's dig in.

0:00:30.020,0:00:35.865
I think Bart Layton made one of the smartest, simplest [br]decisions I've ever seen for a doc and it's this:

0:00:35.865,0:00:41.436
Every subject in this story is shot in a normal [br]interview style, looking off frame at someone else.

0:00:41.436,0:00:43.621
Except for our bad guy...

0:00:43.621,0:00:47.833
[clip] From as long as I remember,[br]I wanted to be someone else.

0:00:47.833,0:00:49.704
... who looks right at us.

0:00:49.704,0:00:51.527
That's it. Dead simple.

0:00:51.527,0:00:54.213
See, the movies have always had[br]a fascination with bad guys,

0:00:54.213,0:00:56.387
and we've always had this way[br]of looking them right in the eye,

0:00:56.387,0:01:02.549
whether they be gangsters, cannibals, sociopaths, [br]psychos, japanese girls or Leonardo DiCaprio.

0:01:02.549,0:01:06.381
And I love it when a detective story or [br]a thriller plays moments into the lens.

0:01:06.381,0:01:10.421
Jonathan Demme does this a lot in Silence of [br]the Lambs, which is all about getting you...

0:01:10.421,0:01:11.777
[clip] Closer…

0:01:11.777,0:01:13.714
...into her headspace.

0:01:13.714,0:01:18.448
Just the little things, like the experience of [br]being shorter and female in a room like this.

0:01:18.448,0:01:19.668
[clip] Go on now.

0:01:19.668,0:01:21.313
Or here's a scene from Zodiac.

0:01:21.313,0:01:23.764
This is the first interview[br]with our prime suspect.

0:01:23.764,0:01:27.633
All three of the detectives are trying [br]to figure out: is this guy the killer?

0:01:27.633,0:01:31.005
And when he says something suspicious, [br]look at the shots Fincher cuts to.

0:01:31.005,0:01:33.234
[clip] Well, we'll be checking in on that.

0:01:33.234,0:01:35.278
Were you ever in Southern California?

0:01:35.278,0:01:36.924
And the climax of the scene is this:

0:01:36.924,0:01:39.430
I'm not the Zodiac.

0:01:39.430,0:01:43.372
And if I was, I certainly[br]wouldn't tell you.

0:01:43.372,0:01:45.185
So the movie's asking you to judge:

0:01:45.185,0:01:47.031
what do you think about this guy?

0:01:47.031,0:01:52.379
But in fiction films, it's really hard to sustain a whole [br]movie with someone looking into the lens the entire time.

0:01:52.379,0:01:53.688
It's just too much.

0:01:53.688,0:01:54.615
[clip] Yeah.

0:01:54.615,0:01:56.465
But if you go to documentaries…

0:01:56.465,0:01:58.968
[clip] Introduce the sentence, because[br]I know exactly what I wanted to say.

0:01:58.969,0:02:00.388
- Go ahead![br]- Ok.

0:02:00.388,0:02:03.339
…you'll run into Errol Morris,[br]who does it all the time.

0:02:03.339,0:02:05.628
For him, the goal is to[br]achieve the first-person,

0:02:05.629,0:02:08.738
the sense that you're really in the room [br]with these people talking to them.

0:02:08.738,0:02:11.451
And when they explain themselves,[br]they don't break eye contact with you,

0:02:11.452,0:02:14.875
so it makes it easier for you[br]to empathize with them.

0:02:14.875,0:02:17.350
So that's the camera setup[br]for The Imposter.

0:02:17.350,0:02:20.970
This angle puts us in the same room[br]as the bad guy, judging him.

0:02:20.970,0:02:25.755
But the same angle also makes us really [br]susceptible to have persuasive he is.

0:02:25.755,0:02:30.376
In other words,we know he's the [br]bad guy, but that doesn't protect us.

0:02:30.376,0:02:34.426
If you watch closely, you'll see a bunch of [br]other decisions in the film that stem from this.

0:02:34.426,0:02:39.983
Most of the reconstructions are shot from the[br]imposter's point-of-view. He even lip-syncs…

0:02:39.983,0:02:45.397
[clip] I wasn't the one who was telling them I've [br]been sexually abused. I made them ask me that.

0:02:45.397,0:02:47.370
…across past and present.

0:02:47.370,0:02:51.487
Other people we see from above or [br]from below, but we're eye level here.

0:02:51.487,0:02:55.652
Plus, these subjects are framed in depth, so you can [br]see their environments and where they come from.

0:02:55.652,0:03:00.988
But the imposter's background is literally a blur. [br]He doesn't even have a title card telling us who he is.

0:03:00.988,0:03:04.251
Ok, so all of these are clearly [br]directorial choices. But why?

0:03:04.251,0:03:08.844
Why set up the movie so that the bad guy [br]controls the story and how it's framed?

0:03:08.844,0:03:11.627
Because the movie wants to trick you.

0:03:11.627,0:03:13.279
Not in a "gotcha!" kind of way.

0:03:13.279,0:03:16.971
Just that the director wants you[br]to experience this guy's persuasiveness.

0:03:16.971,0:03:22.122
See, he spends most of the story telling us how [br]he lied to other people and how he tricked everyone.

0:03:22.122,0:03:24.585
So we know we shouldn't[br]trust what he says.

0:03:24.585,0:03:27.625
But then two-thirds of the way[br]through the film, he plays on that:

0:03:27.625,0:03:32.195
Why did the family accept him so easily? [br]Aren't they too trusting of him?

0:03:32.195,0:03:35.457
[clip] I didn't need to be Columbo[br]to put all the pieces together.

0:03:35.457,0:03:38.197
I mean, why else would they[br]accept this guy, right?

0:03:38.197,0:03:39.527
[clip] They killed him.[br]

0:03:39.527,0:03:40.952
Oh, shit!

0:03:40.953,0:03:47.320
[clip] Some of them did it, some of them knew [br]of it and some of them choose to ignore it.

0:03:47.320,0:03:49.382
Wait, what?

0:03:49.382,0:03:51.106
Fuck him!

0:03:51.106,0:03:55.609
See, the natural reaction of a lot of people to [br]this case is to look down on the Barclay family.

0:03:55.609,0:03:58.123
To see them as being dumb[br]or easily manipulated.

0:03:58.123,0:03:59.959
I mean, the movie even[br]gives some ammunition.

0:03:59.960,0:04:03.875
You know, Spain? Isn't that [br]like across the country?

0:04:03.875,0:04:06.780
Plus, who doesn't[br]recognize their own kid?

0:04:06.780,0:04:08.667
So the movie lets you believe that.

0:04:08.668,0:04:13.215
It's not shoving it down your throat, it just lets you believe what you're already predisposed to believe.

0:04:13.215,0:04:15.151
And then you fall for the same trap.

0:04:15.152,0:04:20.004
Because your brain was already thinking it, all [br]this guy has to do was look at you and confirm it.

0:04:20.004,0:04:22.660
Whether this movie works[br]for you or not, I can't say.

0:04:22.660,0:04:25.357
I can say that I definitely fell for it.

0:04:25.357,0:04:28.595
And I think this film actually has[br]a lot of empathy for the family.

0:04:28.595,0:04:31.807
For 90 minutes, it lets you experience [br]the story the way they would have:

0:04:31.807,0:04:35.653
with one crazy twist after another, [br]until you don't know what to think or feel.

0:04:35.653,0:04:38.897
And maybe at the end of it, you understand [br]a little better how they could have been tricked

0:04:38.897,0:04:41.702
by something that seems[br]so obvious to you or me.

0:04:49.314,0:04:51.774
Or maybe you don't, and[br]you're a fucking psycho.