The Imposter Film Analysis

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In The Imposter, directed by Bart Layton, a young man who has been missing for three years is found and returned home. Unknown at the time, the person returning home is not really the missing boy but rather a French con-man pretending to be the missing boy. The director, Bart Layton, leads the audience through one of the most intense real-life mysteries in American cold case history. Layton’s goal throughout the film is to entertain the audience with a bigger-than-life story. The director achieves this goal by creating the element of mystery using in-depth interviews, selective music choice, media from the time of the event. Layton shapes all of his characters and builds suspense in the film by using these techniques. During the opening scenes …show more content…
The character Layton includes is the private investigator. Layton first gives the character credibility by saying the private detective has been in this line of work for many years. Layton then shows interviews with the private detective to give the story a wild twist. The private detective is working on this case just because he thinks he can solve this crazy mystery. The private detective is in full belief that the mother and son killed the young boy. He is almost not even concerned with the fact that a man is pretending to be the missing boy. The detective is much more concerned with his opinion that the boy isn’t missing but rather was killed by family members. Layton adds interviews with the man which he adds evidence such as Jason called the police saying his brother was trying to rob the house after the boy went missing. The investigator says this is a common theme among people who know someone isn’t really missing. The investigator is fully convinced that the family all knows about the killing and that’s why no one in the family questioned the con man living in their house because it was the “perfect cover up.” Layton ends the film with the detective digging at the boy’s old house because the detective thinks the only way to prove the family guilty is to find the body of the boy. Layton ends the film with this because he wants the audience to feel a great sense of mystery and leaving the film completely up to

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