My nephew's wife suggested that I watch this documentary, so I did. Simple as that. I hadn't seen the trailer or any of the marketing. I sat down to watch this documentary with as a blank slate. I had no idea what I was about to watch.
Now that I've seen the movie, the trailer, and have read all the debates, I am glad I didn't go looking for reviews before I sat down to view this compelling documentary.
That being said.. there will be spoiler's in this review.
Here is the description of the movie from Netflix:
Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman document the strange series of events that unfolds when a gifted 8-year-old artist named Abby contacts Nev, a 24-year-old photographer (and Schulman's brother), through Facebook. After Abby sends Nev a remarkable painting based on one of his photos, Nev begins corresponding with her family -- including her seductive 19-year-old sister. Realizing that something's not quite right, Nev sets out to uncover the truth.
At the beginning of this documentary, as Netflix states, an 8-year-old artist named Abby contacts Nev on Facebook and sends him a gorgeous painting based on a photo he had taken that was published in a newspaper. They become friends. He sends her photos that he has taken, she paints them and sends them back to him. She also begins to send him paintings she has done of her family as well as one she done of his Facebook profile photo. He naturally assumes this child is a prodigy. He replies to her messages, and encourages her with her painting.
His roommates, intrigued by Abby, began filming the budding friendship for a documentary.
Eventually, Nev becomes Facebook friends with her entire family and even chats with them on the phone. He then finds himself in a more serious phone, Facebook, and text friendship with Abby's older sister Megan which quickly develops into more than a friendship. More along the lines of a real long-distance relationship. Nev begins to develop feelings for Megan and says that if the chemistry is the same when they meet in person, they would be in an instant relationship.
The whole family appears to be friendly and talent to Nev and he seems thrilled to know them. The Mom is fantastic because she juggles these talented kids and the struggles of every day life. Abby is a fantastic painter with a new gallery opening up and Megan is a dancer, a model, and musician.
One night Nev and his roommates are listening to music uploaded on Megan's Facebook page that she has recorded. They love the music, but one song seems familiar and they begin to search for it online to see why it seems familiar. They find the same song by a different artist online. It sounds eerily similar. As they listen to the song, Megan offers to take requests for other songs. They ask her to sing another, which she does. Then after they listen to it, they begin to search for it online as well and find the exact song on Youtube. Nev is utterly confused and can't figure out why she would lie to him. Why would she say she is singing these songs?
Nev and his roommates are traveling close to Michigan for a job and decided to stop by Megan's home and surprise her. Not only to meet her but to find out what is the truth and what all she has lied to him about. But they remember that her horse is about to give birth and she is at the farm. They decide to stop by the farm first. When they arrive, the place looks deserted so they open the mailbox and inside are some postcards Nev has mailed to her in the past. They become very suspicious, pull into the drive and look into the barn. There are no horses, and no one around.
After finding she had once again lied to Nev, they decide to go her home. Nev just wants the truth. When they arrive at her home, she isn't there, but her mother comes to the door. Nev is shocked as the Mom, Angela, looks nothing like her Facebook photo. Then Vince, the Dad, comes around the corner and he doesn't look like the photo either. Angela calls Megan and tries to get her to come home because Nev has came to see her. Abby isn't at home either. She is at a friends house. Nev begins to figure out that something is bad wrong with the whole situation. But Angela offers to take him to pick up Abby.
They arrive at Abby's friends home and he meets Abby and her friend. When he asks them questions about Abby's older sister Megan, they agree she has one, but they have never met her. So he proceeds to ask Abby about her art. She looks very confused and says that she doesn't paint much, but her mother does.
Nev is confused. Angela has been doing the paintings... including the one of him. Megan is away, and Angela's reactions to him confirm that she is in love with him. Angela the mom, who looks nothing like her photo, who paints and claims her daughter does is in love with him. So is she pretending to be Megan? Is Megan even real? He has to confront her.
Nev confronts Angela, and she openly admits that she played the role of all the family on Facebook. She has him pose for a painting as they talk. She blushes, she cries, and as she talks to him in Megan's voice, you can see the pain in his eyes. She tries to explain that everyone she portrayed was a part of her. You can tell that both of their hearts are breaking, yet she continues to lie and say that Megan exists but is in rehab because she is an alcoholic. When she doesn't exist at all.
Angela asks Nev what he is thinking, he simply says he wants to go home. He is exhausted.
In the end, Angela eventually sends Nev the painting of himself that she had him sit for as they talked and they remain friends on Facebook even now.
The documentary was so gripping and leaves you feeling so many emotions at once. I felt so nervous and anxious for Nev as he was finding out he had been lied to. You know he had to be hurt, his heart breaking, as he was in love. Yet, he remained mild mannered, nice, and forgiving.
I know many people say the documentary couldn't possibly be true, but either way, it was worth my time, fiction or not. I was left on the edge of my seat.
My heart broke for Nev as he learned the one he loved wasn't real and he had been lied to. My heart broke for Angela as she obviously loved him and knew that he loved her, but not the real her, only the her she pretended to be. Probably knowing he could never love the real her now even if she confessed to everything.
Why would she pretend to be a child when she originally sent the painting? Did she think he wouldn't appreciate the art unless it had been done by a child? Why did she chose to paint his photos? Was she in awe of the photo itself and fell in love with the photographer later or had she seen him and the motive was to entice him all along?
I can understand how he could be duped as the lies she created were so believable and so well played out. I felt for him. I was mad at her, felt sorry for her, and could understand her at the same time.
She is in a situation where she is raising two handicapped children that aren't biologically hers. She has so much weight on her taking care of them. She probably never realized what she was getting into when she married her husband.
Maybe she never intended to seduce Nev or to fall for him, but it happened. And when it did, why didn't she come clean right then and there? Was she already so far in love she couldn't confess her lies and tell him the truth due to the fear of rejection?
Had she told him the truth without him having to find it out the way he did, would he have still loved her? Knowing she was older and not the person in the photo. Would he have even given her a second glance? Probably not. As this is a very materialistic world we live in. This makes me as angry at him as I am at her. Yet I can't not feel sorry for both of them as their hearts are shattered.
at the local library and after going through all 208 pages, I plan to buy my own copy. Anything that you could ever want to know about chickens is in this book. Honest!
{Kindle Edition}.
, make time for it. You won't regret it.