Chatroom - DVD

Film: Loner Jim (Matthew Beard) likes to escape his dreary life to the internet. In a newly formed chat room, he meets Eva (Imogen Poots), who would like to become a model, shy Emily (Hannah Murray) and Mo (Daniel Kaluuya), who has secret feelings for his best friend's 11-year-old sister. The chat room was founded by the charismatic William (Aaron Johnson), who quickly wins the trust of his new internet friends with his warm and helpful nature. What they do not suspect is that they are only figures in a perverse game, whose only goal is the death of one of their midst.

With Chatroom, director Hideo Nakata (The Ring 2) has tried to process the increasing anonymization of many young people through the Internet, its alternative realities and social networks on the one hand, but the much too open handling of private and intimate information on the other hand, in a suspenseful thriller. Enda Walsh's script, which is based on his own play, is bursting with original ideas. The very idea of showing the chat room as an actual room in which the five teenagers sit across from each other gives the film a fascinating atmosphere. And the long corridor, where all kinds of users find the right chatroom for their needs, is a very good idea.

While the scenes set on the Internet are bathed in very warm colours suggesting security, the reality is staged as cool and threatening. This reflects very well the emotional world of the teenage protagonists, who are looking for recognition, help and friendship on the Internet, which they do not find in real life. The actors, especially Kick-Ass star Aaron Johnson, deliver consistently good performances. And yet, the film leaves a rather ambivalent impression. This may be due to the fact that Hideo Nakata put too much emphasis on the visuals and thus lost sight of the actual story a bit. But it may also be due to the fact that the work's theatrical origin is always noticeable.

So especially the longer dialogue scenes sometimes seem a bit unwieldy and - despite the good actors - a bit wooden. If director and writer had scaled down their ambitions a bit here and concentrated more on the entertainment value of the story, this production could have done justice to the clever core of the story. As it is, however, Chatroom has become an exceptional and not unintelligent cyber-thriller, but one that does only limited justice to its important subject matter.

Picture + Sound: The different color schemes of the scenes in reality and those in the chat room lend a coherent atmosphere to the very clean picture. The sound remains largely front-heavy, with some well-used sound effects and ambient noise here and there providing some dynamics. Good!

Extras: In addition to somewhat promotional-heavy, but not uninteresting interviews with the creators (approx. 9 min.) and the cast (approx. 8 min.), the DVD still has an uncommented behind-the-scenes look (approx. 10 min.) and a trailer show from the provider in the program. Not mind-blowing, but good standard.

Conclusion: Chatroom is a very clever thriller at its core, but it suffers a little from its overambitious staging and theatrical nature. The DVD is technically well-executed, and the extras are insightful but not really rich. On balance, thoroughly recommended for lovers of the somewhat unusual thrill!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp