98% The Imposter

All Critics (52) | Top Critics (19) | Fresh (51) | Rotten (1)

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.

This is as much a film about self-deception as it is about deception, and as such, it is a study in pain.

This is a train wreck you think you see coming, but no matter how prepared you are the nature and extent of the damage will overwhelm you.

As fiction, it would never fly. But "The Imposter" happens to be true, and it's a jaw-dropper.

Keeps you unsettled, haunted, enthralled.

Everything about this story is unconvincing, except for the fact that it - or some version of it - happened.

The Imposter is one of those rare documentaries that, while its hard to know exactly how much is intensified for the purposes of making the film, is genuinely unsettling and infuriating to believe as fact and fiction.

Director Bart Layton owes a huge debt to Errol Morris, particularly "The Thin Blue Line," for his approach to this incredible story.

It's ... practically unbelievable, but you won't be able to look away.

Stranger than fiction...simply by presenting us with the facts as they unfolded, Layton winningly encourages more questions than answers.

Only an extraordinary documentary ... can create such a sense of intrigue, tension and mystery.

Layton, a television documentarian, uses familiar Errol Morris-style techniques to wrap us in the mystery of Nicholas Barclay.

Creepier than Catfish and as cinematic as Man On Wire, this is an unnerving story immaculately told and a strong contender for doc of the year.

Truth that is undeniably stranger than fiction. A film that shows us that we may have found the enemy, and it may be us.

The greatest mystery of all -- why this family believed the imposter and welcomed him "home" -- remains hauntingly unsolved

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

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