The Imposter: movie review

'Imposter' has a few too many reenactments but is an unsettling mystery.

By Peter Rainer,?Film critic / August 3, 2012

'The Imposter' is the story of a young man who successfully convinced a Texas family he was their missing son.

Indomina/AP

Enlarge

Bart Layton?s documentary ?The Imposter? is about a mind-boggling, true-life scam involving Nicholas Barclay, a missing 13-year-old boy from rural San Antonio, and 23-year-old Frederic Bourdin, who, years after the disappearance, managed to convince the boy?s parents and the authorities that he was Nicholas despite his French accent and physical dissimilarities. Was Nicholas?s family so joyous at their ?son?s? return that they willed themselves into belief?

Skip to next paragraph

Related stories

Recent movie reviews

' + google_ads[0].line2 + '
' + google_ads[0].line3 + '

'; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; google_adtest = "on"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // -->

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of
The Christian Science Monitor
Weekly Digital Edition

Or was something more nefarious ? murder maybe? ? the explanation? ?The Imposter? has too many reenactments for my taste, and Bourdin is glorified by Layton more often than he is condemned. Still, this is one creepy mystery. Grade: B (Rated R for language.)

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/NrORZR3tnYk/The-Imposter-movie-review

lottery winning numbers pro bowl roster quirky chrissy teigen chia seeds embers shannon brown