81. PVT Chat; movie review

 

 

PVT CHAT

Cert 18

86 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong sex references, nudity

When I was a newspaper editor, I used to describe people who verbally abused me by email or over social media as being 'big in their own bedroom'.

That phrase takes on a whole new slant in the world of Jack (Peter Vack) whose method of earning money and sexual peccadillos are played out online.

For all his bluff and bluster, Jack is lonely. He is addicted to gambling and webcams and resides in a tiny, unkempt apartment in New York.

Thus, he becomes infatuated with Scarlet (Julia Fox) who plays the role of a dominatrix on one of Jack's websites of choice.

Quickly, his desire graduates to an obsession which is fed when he sees her near his home even though she claims to be from San Francisco.

Even though he believes she is lying to him, he cannot get her out of his mind.

Inevitably, he has to spin Scarlet a yarn about his career in an attempt to prompt her to see him outside of their cyber deal.

Meanwhile, he faces the added complication of potentially being chucked out of his apartment at the same time as trying to woo her.

Ben Hozie's movie has plenty of potentially interesting ingredients and has alighted upon an original subject.

However, the problem is that Jack is self-consumed and boring and the novelty of him sitting at his computer in his y-fronts wears off.

On the plus side, PVT Chat does raise awareness of how a laptop can be a cover for life-altering addictions.

On the downside, it doesn't explore that line enough and Jack carries on blithely, irrelevant to the psychological damage or his bank balance.

And I'm afraid that I found it all a bit wooden in more ways than the obvious.

Reasons to watch: If you feel the need for some pretty bodies

Reasons to avoid: People at a computer screen doesn't make for interesting viewing

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: Yes

Overall rating: 3.5/10

Did you know? According to a 2014 study, one-third of American men between the ages of 18 and 30 either think that they are addicted or are unsure if they are addicted to pornography. 

The final word. Peter Vack: "The movie wouldn’t exist unless Ben had been able to create an environment in which Julia and I felt comfortable. This movie is the result of intimacy well-coordinated, otherwise, it just wouldn’t feel right. In a movie like this that does deal so much with sensitive material, people would want to turn it off immediately if it didn’t have the right feel to it." Cine Vue

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