Queerantined

Daily Dose: An internet love affair becomes a sprawling scam

Welcome to Queerty’s latest entry in our series, Queerantined: Daily Dose. Every weekday as long as the COVID-19 pandemic has us under quarantine, we’ll release a suggested bit of gloriously queer entertainment designed to keep you from getting stir crazy in the house. Each weekend, we will also suggest a binge-able title to keep you extra engaged.

The Relatable: Catfish

First things first: the documentary Catfish doesn’t deal with any over queer content. It does, however, confront the perils of modern web and app based-dating, something which LGBTQ people know a good deal about. The film follows Nev Schulman, a New York photographer who begins receiving fan mail from a young girl in Michigan. He eventually falls for the girl’s beautiful older sister, and the two begin a long-distance affair of sorts. As it progresses, however, certain elements don’t add up, and when Nev goes to Michigan to meet his lover, all hell breaks loose.

We don’t want to say more than that here. The first half of Catfish plays like a Hitchcock thriller, taut with mounting suspense. The second, which features a mix of revelations and plot twists, doesn’t get crazy so much as sad and unexpectedly moving. Why do people create false identities on dating apps and social media? Do they have nefarious reasons, or is something more disturbing going on? The answers in Catfish raise more questions, and will give pause to anyone who has ever wondered if that dream lover seems a bit too good to be true.

Streams on Netflix, Amazon, VUDU, YouTube & iTunes.

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