DirkH’s review published on Letterboxd:
Part of Dastardly Difficult December: film nr.96
What a piece of work is man!
Our species never ceases to amaze me. The fact that this increasingly bizarre story is real is something that still makes me dizzy from all the implications it bears with it.
This documentary is a masterful feat of storytelling and characterization without bias. It mixes the real with dramatization beautifully, thus slowly laying bare a story that is unbelievable, infuriating and captivating. It has the guts to place the titular imposter center stage, relying on the strength of his story. He is a bizarre character and the more I got to know about him, the more I felt myself being drawn into his story, wondering whether I felt sorry for him or wanted to kick his ass.
Bart Layton treats his documentary like a feature film, structuring a narrative with twists and turns, keeping us on the edge of our seats as if we're watching a psychological thriller. He directs his film with artistic flair, adding brilliant and creative artistic choices. Of these choices my favourite are the short interjections of the imposter looking knowingly in the camera at us while others are talking about him. It makes us an accomplice, it's like him saying: 'Look what I'm getting away with!'.
It is a tense, gripping and totally immersive documentary that confronts us with the bizarre things our species are capable of.