On_Line

Living in the Cyber-Age, "On_Line" is a great film which tells the story of 7 people whose lives are all connected through the internet, specifically online chatrooms. In the world today, so many people's lives are connected through the internet, so I'm surprised that there aren't more films like this, but there's no need for saturation now, this film does a great job.

The cast are all fantastic. The wonderful Isabel Gillies is in a role that is a far cry from her SVU supporting character Kathy Stabler as she plays Moira, a young woman looking for love and who chats in a suicide chat room. Eric Millegan is great as a young gay guy also looking for love. Love actually happens to be a major part of this film, and is something everyone can relate to, be it On_Line or not.

This film, which won the jury prize at Cinequest (the San Jose, CA film festival) for best narrative feature, is nominally about two roommates who start an Internet sex site. But happily the film is about more than that. It is also about real life interactions, and about the confusing lines of public vs. private on the Internet.

The director was there to answer questions when I saw this on 3/3/2002, and the story behind the film was also pretty interesting. Most of the online interactions really did happen in real-time, although often over local network connections between people in nearby rooms rather than over the Internet. In one case people who were supposedly in different states were actually in rooms on adjacent floors of a dilapidated building, and they had to take care to make sure that the one on the upper floor didn't cause dust to rain down on the other person. The film was shot in 18 days on digital video, and the director said that the film will likely get distributed.

Like it or not the computer has changed our lives in ways far beyond business, data storage, ease of trafficking information, etc. The concept of Internet dating may not be new but it has rarely been so successfully investigated as well as Jed Weintrob's ON_LINE. And whether or not the viewer has ever participated in streaming video chat rooms or utilized the many internet on line sex spots, this small, low budget film will be an eye opener.

Recently dumped John Roth (Josh Hamilton) and his roommate Moe Curley (Harold Perrineau) out of frustration have started an internet dating/chat site/erotic exchange business. John rarely leaves his apartment/business, electing to spend his entire day and night online watching the beautiful Angel (Liz Owens) going about her daily duties of grooming, dressing and undressing and sleeping. John has an online buddy Moira (Isabel Gillies) who acts somewhat as a mentor for lonely people like young Ohio gay lad Ed Simone (Eric Millegan) who dials up another online sex provider, older Al Fleming (John Fleck), in an attempt to have some semblance of a non-closeted life. Moe attempts to get John out into the real dating world and arranges a meeting with the beautiful but sexually frustrated Jordan Nash (Vanessa Ferlito) but the two find relating easier on the internet than in real life. These people all interact both online and in life in a way that begins to blur what is reality. The concept is one of the dichotomies of fantasy and reality, desire/need and acting out, isolated loneliness versus stepping into the physical world and joining the dance of courtship.

The beauty of the film is in the production, and if awards were bestowed on creativity this little movie with its split screens, streaming videos, computer video cameras, and the station they all are relegated to in the space of a room, would be at the top of the list. The actors are all very fine, creating believable characters out of very little face-to-face interaction. ON_LINE has a lot to say about our current state of human relationships and interacting and it says it without being dark and cruel but instead with a lot of light comedy that serves to make the story relatedly credible. For the subject about of sex acts, it remains suggestive with being graphic: it walks a thin line very successfully. Grady Harp

Most films of this kind call strictly for a kind of voyeuristic response on the part of the viewer. This one rises well above that level because of its message and its unique manner of execution. It displays an interdimensional technical structure that works well, especially within the context of internet effects on ordinary human behavior.

In other words, it takes what might ordinarily pass as borderline pornographic scenarios and makes them the vehicle rather than the main focus of interest in showing how people respond to that novel kind of intercommunication. Skillfully moving from the computer screen to real life situations and back again, the film overcomes weaknesses in plot and credibility to succeed in creating an overall sense of purpose.

Not that the story or acting are uniformly deficient. Indeed, there are a few fine performances of difficult material here, as well as production values that rise well above those of most independent films. This is one of those films that require some serious reflection on the part of the viewer in order to get past preconceptions or prejudices.

Everyone can and should see it a little differently.

Check out the hot, sexy, and decidely-not-for-primetime ON_LINE. Josh Hamilton (The House of Yes, Kicking & Screaming) and Harold Perrineau (Oz, and Link from The Matrix: Reloaded and The Matrix: Revolutions) topline this ensemble of intersecting love triangles shot thru New York City's internet dating and cybersex community.

The first REAL look at virtual communities, webcam voyeurs, and what it's like to live life in our new net culture.

But most importantly, this film is super-sexy and sports a super-hot young cast of actors who we'll be seeing for years to come.

Worth seeing for the Josh Hamilton/Vanessa Ferlito scene in the middle alone. ***** Check it out! --indiefilmreviewz