Simple indentity theft or is it something much more sinister? There’s been a lot of talk about the documentary, “The Imposter” since it debuted at Sundance earlier this year. Hell, the intriguing premise had us and others talking about it before it was even screened. Here’s what Sundance had to say in advance.
It’s 1994: a 13-year-old boy disappears from his home in San Antonio, Texas. Three and a half years later, he is found alive, thousands of miles away, in Spain. Disoriented and quivering with fear, he divulges his shocking story of kidnap and torture. His family is overjoyed to bring him home. But all is not what it seems. Sure, he has the same tattoos, but he looks decidedly different, and he now speaks with a strange accent. Why doesn't the family seem to notice these glaring inconsistencies? It's only when an investigator starts asking questions that this astounding true story takes an even stranger turn.
Like his canny subject, gifted filmmaker Bart Layton pulls off an astonishing coup. Buoyed by eye-catching dramatizations and an enthralling structure that crisscrosses time and place, The Imposter unfolds as a gripping thriller that leaves us dizzy, yet certain that truth is, indeed, stranger than fiction.
The Indomina Group recently picked up the film for distribution in North America, and today a new trailer for the film has been released and its creepy tone is a good tease. We liked the film, describing it as a “remarkable and entertaining tale about the illusion of truth," in our review from Sundance. Check out the trailer below. Update: Trailer removed by request of the filmmakers. If you missed it at Sundance, the film will also be screening at the upcoming 2012 SXSW Film Festival.
