Talhotblond

'Talhotblond' is one of those documentaries that has everything to do with timing. The film-making isn't at top quality, though they did their best to make text on a screen as exciting as possible. Something much better film-makers have tried and failed themselves. The clumsy film-making almost gets in the way of a story that is so unbelievable, had it not been true, would seem entirely bogus. The "first-person" narration by a murdered teen adds to the unbelievability, but the story saves it.

Bizarre presentation detracts from the really interesting story. People are weird.

AKA 'Inverted Catfish': A more fascinating story, but a much less compelling execution.

Framing the narrative as being told from the perspective of the murdered subject of the documentary was kind of goofy, and I would say a little disrespectful. That odd choice, coupled with how much of the story was told with on-screen text - perhaps necessary, but they could have tried to find a more engaging way to present it - really hurt this film. The utterly bizarre story deserves a better constructed documentary, but if you can overlook weird stylistic choices, you'll likely be hooked.

Better editing and the removal of its melodramatic narration (it is narrated by an actor playing a dead person) would greatly improve Talhotblond. However, even with its flaws it is a better look at online relationships, loneliness, and love than the dishonest and exploitative Catfish.

The narration, perspecting and framing of this film are all very unfortunate. The documentarians leave no question about who they blame more for the death of the 22 year old young man, and it isn't the person who pulled the trigger.

It suffers from a poor choice of narrator and (unavoidable) over-reliance on text, but the story told here is a very interesting one, and if you're interested in documentary in this vein (obvious reference point here would be Catfish) I do very much recommend it

Suffers from the fact that two of the main characters are not interviewed and as such it only delivers part of the inredible story.

I thought the story was interesting, and the themes of blurring fantasy and reality were intriguing, even if a bit shallow. But then right at the end the film takes an unusual and uncomfortable stance, misplacing the blame in an almost disgusting way. Does the filmmaker really believe that lying on the internet is worse than murder? Would Brian really think that?

Excellent doc about how stupid people can get.

How I wish Dateline would cover this and have Keith Morrison tell the story. This was a very poor presentation of a fascinating case. Worst of all was having the murder victim narrate it. It's in really bad taste to put words in a deceased person's mouth. Come on, that's grounds for haunting.