Cannes 2010: 'Chatroom'

The idea of a movie about a bunch of young people who meet online with scenes set in a metaphorical cyberspace is enough to get many logging off in a hurry. Movie depiction of the web has mainly veered from the silly and stupid (The Net) to the fun but really stupid (Hackers). Fear not, though. With Chatroom, Hideo Nakata (best known for directing the original Japanese Ringu) has crafted a fine, twisted little movie, which successfully depicts the medium in a way that doesn't have you chewing off your knuckles in embarrassment. More importantly, it packs a hefty emotional punch with some wonderfully realised characters and a tightly wound script courtesy of Hunger scribe Enda Walsh.

William (Aaron Johnson) is a formerly suicidal teenager who has seemingly come out, if not on the other side, somewhere in the middle. He sets up a chatroom on an online server, and soon attracts what appear to be fellow misfits in Eva (Imogen Poots), Jim (Matthew Beard), Emily (Hannah Murray) and Mo (Daniel Kaluuya). As he uses his words to extend his power over their lives, it soon becomes clear that William might not have the best interests of his new friends at heart.

The real world is shot in drab, lifeless colour that anyone who's spent a rainy afternoon on Camden Lock will know too well. The hyper-real chatrooms are more vibrant and - vitally - no time is wasted translating the language of the metaphor, with the audience granted the respect to work it out for themselves. Similarly, themes of life and death, responsibility and power, and the ability to use the pen as the sword are all treated with refreshing skill, all wrapped up in a delightfully tense hour and a half.



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