The Chameleon (2011)

The Chameleon is not as good as The Imposter, but still this movie is pretty clever. Actually, it gives you more doubts than documentary, cause it does not much follow the line of real story. The Imposter mostly concentrates on actions of Frédéric Fortin, on crimes he's committed and leaves Randall family beyond the interest. However, the movie itself is more complex giving a closer look to every character.Writers did a great job mixing documented material with fiction one. They clearly show development of main characters after Nicholas's comeback. The script makes you concentrate on three topics: first is Frédéric (or Nicholas) who is kind of shocked as he is introduced to family members closer. As time goes by, he understands that he came in "wrong" place, because they are definitely making his life worse. Every new family, Frédéric has "returned" to before, welcomed him, made him feel comfortable, but not Randalls, because they have their reasons, why Nicholas should not be back.Another story is how FBI thinks of this sudden appearance of kidnapped child. Famke Jensen is the only agent who does not believe in any words of Nicholas and his family. Therefore, she decides to hold an inquiry independently. This investigations lead us to the third story, which is story of Randall family itself.They seem to be not that happy by arrival of long lost child. But still they have no doubt that he, whoever came back, is their little boy and that is why they refused to do a DNA test, or cooperate with police. They know something that is hidden from everyone.These three stories make a superb and horribly interesting movie. Potentially, The Chameleon could be far more better film, because it can easily attract one's attention, thrill you and make you wanting more about this topic. But still I found it average. Mostly the reason is pure directing and acting. I believe that this film could be more engaging and powerful if Jean-Paul Salome had worked more on visualization of whole idea. The camera-work and acting panel could be better and yes! this kid of movie really needs better actors. The only performance I enjoyed was Emilie de Ravin as a sister of Nicholas. I have never seen Marc-André Grondin (Frederic, Nicholas) before and I think he was not the best choice for the role.The biggest dignity of The Chameleon is that in the final scenes, it almost clearly shows what really happened to real Nicholas Mark Randall

We can never be sure about dramatised true stories because tricks are played on our memories even as we try to retell with accuracy. This story of a character who is unlikely to be who he claims to be from the start is as much about doubts as it is about rebuilding hopes. From the opening shots of a body hunt through to the final frames this film attempts to tackle the driving forces of all the characters who make up the plot by showing up flaws and how all of us are sometimes drawn to papering over cracks in our thoughts.The film is quite clever in raising doubt in our minds because every player seems flawed from Fortin/Randall (Grondin), through Kimberly (Barkin), to Johnson (Janssen) as an FBI agent who seems to have no doubts. Perhaps a clumsy unevenness in the screenplay sometimes makes following the story a little less taut than it should be, but I could not fault the quality of the acting.Even a family torn apart by an undisclosed tragedy seem very adept at keeping things as they are when redemption is a possibility but the actual interaction between them is not well rehearsed in this script. Too much focus is perhaps played on the mother's relationship with her "son" when there was perhaps a lot of mileage elsewhere.I would guess many people would want a more commercial ending to a film like this and that has probably detracted from it popularity since it does stick to events as they happened but for me the real let down, having such a great cast, was a failure to grasp the real guts of the story and perhaps reveal a little more of what really may have happened.Seven out of ten for acting from a fine cast.

"The Chameleon" is roughly based on the case of the disappearance of Nicholas Barclay, and the impostor Frederic Bourdin.The movie stays reasonably close to the facts, though there are some mayor things changed that IMO was totally unnecessary. At the same time, more could have been done with other things. I am on purpose gonna keep this all pretty vague; as I do not want to spoil anything. If you want to know about the real case, google on it. It is a very interesting thing to do.I would definitely have liked to have seen more background about Frederic. The case of Nicholas wasn't the first time he imposed as a missing child, neither was it the last time. As if the whole story about Nicholas wasn't bizarre enough, it gets more and more bizarre if you read up on Bourdin. He truly deserves the name Chameleon; it is incredible how good this guy is at languages and in blending in. I do understand that the movie's focus was on only one of his crimes, but I think a bit more history would have made it all even more absurd. Now, you almost feel at least a bit pity for Bourdin, but that should not happen. After all, the guy was/is a very disturbed man who didn't give a *beep* about the feelings of his victims.The overall acting was not very good. Famke Janssen made the best of it and steals the scenes when she comes in, but I was unfortunately pretty unconvinced by the lead character. The way the story unfolds was just not good enough to convince, and the characters way too shallow. Many things are there in potential, but somehow it just doesn't work. It could have been an 'edge of your seat' thriller or drama, but it simply isn't. Throughout the whole story, it just lacks something. An other reviewer used the word 'dull', and I think that's quite a good description. All in all; an intriguing case made to a less intriguing movie.(Ps: An interesting little fact; Bourdin himself worked as a creative consultant for this movie. )

I found "The Chameleon" a somewhat difficult movie to critique. It's the true story of a young man that lives his life either through the fictitious characters that he creates or through real people whose identities he assumes. The movie centers on one such event in his life where he assumes the identity of a mother's long missing son. When he is reunited with this acquired Louisiana family,he ends up getting more than he bargained for. The mother is a chain smoking drug addict. The sister is guilt ridden over not having protected the real brother prior to his disappearance. The step brother is abusive,threatening and possibly a murderer. Of course,they don't know that he's really not their long lost relative…..or do they. Each of them,in their own different twisted way,seem to need him and he,them. So,the truth really doesn't matter. Meanwhile,there are two F.B.I. agents who are suspicious of the impostor,one of which has her own dark secret and reason for investigating the case. You have interesting characters here and very good performances by everyone. Moreover,it's presented very effectively in a realistic gritty manner. That said,this movie will not appeal to everyone and probably not to most. Why? It's as if you walked into a theater after the movie started and left before it ended. What you see is a snapshot into these character's lives….. and it's done very well. However,you have no idea how the characters got to the point they're at and you're given no answers at the end. I suppose that it could be best categorized as a good art house movie.