Catfish on DVD now

Catfish is a documentary about Nev Schulman as captured by his brother, Ariel and their friend Henry Joost. What begins as a small interesting project soon becomes something much more intriguing. Catfish documents Nev as he begins an online relationship with Megan, a relationship where it soon becomes apparent that Megan is not all that she seems.

Nev’s a normal young guy and Megan seems to be and ideal match for him, he links with her and her family and friends through facebook. It’s a really well paced documentary in which you are as the viewer drawn into a facebook mystery of Nev’s relationship with Megan as he piece by piece puts together the evidence with his brother and friend that facebook sometimes lies.

What then follows although not all together surprising but it is quite scary especially the level to which the deception goes. Nev and friends expose the truth but you are left thinking how often does this happen in the virtual world to maybe more vulnerable people. Another remarkable element of this documentary is that you don’t hate the protagonist you are left feeling quite sympathetic to their situation despite the months of deception you know Nev has been exposed to.

Very telling for our times – in that respect it’s a must see.

Director: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman 

Cast:
Ariel Schulman           Himself (as Rel Schulman)
Yaniv Schulman          Himself (as Nev Schulman)
Angela Wesselman   Herself

Tyson on DVD now

Mike Tyson retells the highs and lows of his career in this documentary. It begins with his tough Brooklyn upbringing, his discovery by his mentor Cus D’Amato. The film then documents his years at the top, his years of excess and his many falls from grace and his loss of boxing prowess – where he blatantly admits he was boxing ‘for the money’.

The film has some good archive footage, of the early Tyson and more importantly footage of his fights – so rarely seen due to copyright issues serve to remind the viewer of how menacing and unbeatable he was in his prime, which is made all the more poignant when looking at his later career.

Toback does have an annoying habit of splitting the screen up – as if to be an obvious analogy with Tyson’s own split persona. Tyson himself comes across as a man who has two distinct sides to his personality, physically hes one of the scariest (to me anyway) people on the planet and yet he has one of the softest girlie voices – not that I would tell him! He either views women as whores or something to be protected and kept safe, having said that I found the section when he is talking about what he wants from a woman quite disturbing – if I’m being honest he scares the hell out of me.

Tyson speaking about his old mentor is genuinely touching, hes realises the debt he has to Cus D’Amato who saved him from the street but didn’t live long enough to see his rise and fall in the world of boxing. Would Tyson’s story be any different if he had been there to steer his path?

Its an interesting documentary, Tyson comes across as a mass of contradictions and it also made me realise that boxing is now a corporate sport on pay per view, not seen on terrestrial television for the masses, which even though I don’t like the sport, is a shame for future generations.

Directed by James Toback

Cast

Mike Tyson – himself
The rest of the cast are seen in archive footage.

For the official website click here

Religulous – On DVD now

Religulous is American comedian Bill Maher’s documentary about his search for the reasons for faith. Maher interviews Muslims, Jews and Christians Mormons, scientists and even a Vatican astrologer to try to understand why people have faith. He visits a Creationist museum, which shows dinosaurs and humans living together, and even the Holy Land theme park in Florida where they enact recreations of Jesus being crucified on an hourly basis!

I hadn’t come across Mahar before but had heard that this documentary was good and it was. Mahar seems to hold no questions back in his search for the reason why so many people believe in improbable stories with such devotion they steer their lives accordingly and some even are willing to die for their faith.

I think your enjoyment of this documentary will depend on your view on religion, if you are a believer then I would suggest that this film isn’t for you (even though it wouldn’t be a bad thing to watch it), but if your like me a non believer then Mahers totally inappropriate questions and the facts that he presents prove to be really enjoyable.

Faith is a really strange subject, particularly if you haven’t got it, you don’t understand it and cannot understand why people are so fanatical about it. Maher counters the quotes from the Bible he receives from his interviewees with other less well known biblical facts that turn arguments around. He meets a man who claims to be the second coming, a man who claims his homosexuality was ‘cured’ by religion, scientists and even American truckers who attend a roadside church. It makes for interesting viewing, not more so for the people who have become very very wealthy from other peoples faith. Interestingly one of the most down to earth interviewees is an ex Vatican astrologer.

Its an interesting and funny film, Maher also just about pulls off the tricky task of questioning peoples deep faith and exposing the frailties in their beliefs while maintaining a easy manner and a good sense of humour – watch it if your not going to be insulted!

Director – Larry Charles

Cast:

Bill Mahar – Himself

Click here for official website