96% The Imposter

All Critics (75) | Top Critics (22) | Fresh (72) | Rotten (3)

Beverly Dollarhide, Nicholas's mother, says of the period after her son's disappearance, "My main goal in life at that time was not to think." Apparently, the filmmakers have taken a cue from her.

Layton's dazzling film is an exciting, edge-of-your-seat experience superior to any Hollywood mystery you're likely to see for a long time.

"The Imposter" becomes more than just a missing-persons drama. It hints at something much darker: a real-life horror story, the full truth of which may never be known.

This is one creepy mystery.

"The Imposter" initially seems to be a tutorial in identity theft, as well as a cautionary tale about the susceptibility of people who have lost a loved one. But that's not the half of it.

Layton's film joins the top ranks of nonfiction films because he recognizes that in this case no solution could be as engrossing as the questions.

It's an astounding story, truly, and Bourdin is the most chillingly sympathetic sociopath: frank, remorseless, matter-of-fact.

British director Bart Layton has only slightly fictionalised this extraordinary story for his documentary, which is told more as a thriller than a statement of hard fact.

"The Imposter" is one of the best films of the year.

Not only is the story riveting, but the film explores huge issues that really get under our skin

The Imposter frequently sends your jaw hurtling to the floor as it tries to understand the great pretender and a family only too willing to accept him as one of their own.

When this film was over, I felt as if I had been holding my breath for 99 minutes. It is pure, delicious suspense.

The mysteries stick with you. In 20 years time, someone will leap up and shout, "Eureka!"

Think of Clint Eastwood's Changeling and multiply by the power of reality.

The month's second mind-blowing doc ... a thinker that deserves the thought.

[The] unbelievable blend of confidence trickery and seemingly wilful blindness is what fascinates most in The Imposter, and raises more tantalising and disturbing questions.

You couldn't make this stuff up - and no one would buy it as fiction. But as a documentary, it's a different matter.

Layton may be making a sophisticated point about the elusive nature of truth but at the same time, it's a point made at the expense of the Barclays.

The year's most fascinating and frightening doc so far, The Imposter delves far beneath the hysterical tabloid headlines.

It's both preposterous and horrific, and therein lies its powerful, disquieting charm.

The real imposter here is the director.

A fascinating glimpse into the mind of a cunning con-man...and it's just as cunning as he was in constructing the story to hold our interest.

Trails off at the worst possible moment...its flaccid legal summary and closing visual manipulations are intentional, leaving audiences with a thoroughly sickening feeling to appreciate Bourdin's prolonged dance of narcissism.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_imposter_2012/

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