WMO: Chatroom

So since I’ve been busy wading through my Guiding life, and ignoring the rest of life, I am going to apologise by presenting you with a new ‘subdivision’ of ‘Kirsty Through The Looking Glass’, which I have, rather creatively, named ‘WATCH ME ONCE!’ (or WMO for convenience).  This is going to be a series of short, spoiler free promotions/reviews of all the movies which I feel that you should watch at least once in your life.  Maybe because they are brilliant, or thought provoking.  Or maybe it’s a movie which is so bad that it’s funny.  I’m not saying that you will like these films, and I’m not even saying that they will change your life.  All I’m saying is, give them two hours of your life and see what you learn. Ditch the ‘that’s not my type of movie’ attitude for just one evening.  Variety is the spice of life after all. As always, tell me what you think (preferably after watching said movie!)

Movie: Chatroom

Censorship (UK): 15

Released: 2011

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This movie is rated as a 15 due to some of the content (“contains suicide theme and strong sex references”), but I do feel like it’s one which all teenagers in the modern world should see at least once, and probably by the time they are 15 or 16 years old it’s too late.  It promotes a lot of the dangers about living online which we all know exist, but most of the younger generation (myself included) don’t proactively protect themselves from.  Perhaps it’s a little outdated, since IM and chatrooms have taken a backseat to the likes of Facebook where there is a lot less anonymity, but I feel that a lot of the messages are still very relevant.

Chatroom tells the story of 5 teens who meet on a chatroom, which they then turn into their own private community.  The only thing is that, as well as being young and impressionable, all of them also suffer at the hands of their mental health.  Member William (Aaron Johnson) soon realises this and begins to manipulate the rest of the group for his own pleasure, persuading them that he is helping with their recovery when in fact he’s pushing them deeper into their personal Hells.

As well as psychotic manipulation, fragile relationships with strangers who feel like best friends, and the dangers of sharing personal information and your deepest secrets with a person who you have never seen, there is a scene which I really like where a middle aged man tries to penetrate their chatroom pretending to be a teenage girl.

Also, as far as psychopaths go, Aaron Johnson is pretty adorable.

Just a word of warning that it did take me a few minutes to get my head around the way it was filmed (the juxtaposition between online and offline scenes), but once you get past that it’s really good!  It’s quite powerful, and it’s also quite emotional.

The trailer :

Let me know what you think in the comments! (try and keep it spoiler free please)

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