Catch Me If You Can2002

Live in living color Let me take you for a ride Yes, I’m live in living color Let me be your tv guide! I haven’t reviewed a movie in like two weeks. While I have been on vacation, I also have actually watched quite a few films but just didn’t have the energy to review them. Well, last night at midnight, I watched Catch Me If You Can.  I don’t think anyone is in doubt that Spielberg is the goat. Everything about this is so masterful. All about the lies we tell others and the lies we tell ourselves. And the biggest lie is if any of this happened at all. At least to the extent depicted in the film and autobiography it’s based on.  Very much a sister film to Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. It just seems that many guys in the middle of the century were perhaps bored or disappointed with the ways their life turned out and wanted to imagine a more exciting life for themselves.  So during the majority of the time depicted in the film, Abagnale was incarcerated, so it seems highly likely that during this period is when he made up the story about himself. Some things do seem to be true but just not to the high-profile level depicted here. But it seems fitting that the greatest and youngest conman of all times, his biggest con was if he ever even was a conman.  I think selling this as real when there have been multiple investigations since the seventies that have disproved his story is perfect. The movie is the con, and everyone fell for it. In its own way, it is a commentary on biographical films and storytelling. Everyone has a message. Everyone has a narrative they are trying to push, whether consciously or unconsciously. And memories are a fickle thing. There is absolutely no way to have an unbiased story.  And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. To an extent.  There’s also a huge part about coming of age. For some people, it is a gradual shift to the point where you can’t even tell where it happened or if it happened at all.  And for others, it’s hard and fast. Instantaneous. And you grow up because you have to because there’s no other choice. Rather than facing the reality of his father’s troubles with the IRS and his parents’ separation, he chose to run away and make countless new lives for himself. Pretending like his father that anything can be fixed and the only thing in your way is your own resolution. That you can will yourself to success. And that denial is absolutely what fueled Frank and the choices he made.  I think despite or because of this story’s blatant dishonesty, it only serves to make it more relatable and more human.  Anyways, this is a film I could watch countless times and always enjoy. Without a doubt, one of Spielberg’s best.