Further to the notes in the description in this blog, I will be trying to post a new review if not every day, every other day. If for some reason you don't hear from me you could either send out a search party or congratulate me for getting a "proper" job. Like already stated in the description most reviews will be a result of the latest lovefilm dvd rental and if I'm waiting on the post then I'll try and post a review I did that currently sits on another dormant blog. - Hope that makes things nice and clear for everyone. Now for the main attraction.
Following the theme of reviews on new DVD releases (Little White Lies) I recently watched Trust (2010). The film is directed by David Schwimmer aka Ross from friends and is based on a screenplay by Andy Bellin and Robert Festinger. The film stars Liana Liberato as Annie Cameron a 14 year old girl that becomes close to a boy called Charlie that she befriends online played by Chris Henry Coffey. As a young innocent Annie becomes close to Charlie her parents played by Clive Owen and Catherine Keener seem to humour their daughters new found friend while both seem distant. Owen's character Will is heavily wrapped in his work while Keener's character Lynn has her attention on her son, who is moving away to college.. These circumstances push Annie to further interact with Charlie and their online relationship grows. However, as Charlie tells Annie his real age is 20, which then he admits is actually 24, Annie becomes unsure of her new found friend.
Charlie pushes forward relentlessly and arranges to meet Annie, who upon meeting him discovers Charlie's real age is 35. He nevertheless convinces her to come to his motel room, where he rapes her. Even after Annie's awful attack she believes Charlie and her are soul mates and he loves her. The majority of the film focuses then on the aftermath of the attack dealing with both Annie's relationship with Charlie and her father's attempt to understand and deal with the attack. However the middle part of the film seems to fall down after the interesting early development of the relationship between Annie and Charlie, although it does find its feet once again towards the end.
Schwimmer's intention for the film comes across as a film to educate adults on the difficult subject of Internet grooming, and although the topic seems to have lost media attention in the past couple of years, it is a worthy portrayal of a uncomfortable topic. Its cinema presence seems awkward and by accident and may end up finding its true calling on the small screen (or at parent education classes). It tackles the subject in the most clichéd way possible but clichés are clichés for a reason, I guess! Anyway, they do become slightly obvious and the whole film seems to lack subtlety at times.
Verdict It's interesting to see a difficult subject such as this on the big screen and we should credit Schwimmer for its quality and his conviction to bring it to life -- it tackles it head on but does it well.
No comments:
Post a Comment