Director: Hideo Nakata
Writer: Edna Walsh (Screenplay) Enda Walsh (Play)
Starring: Aaron Taylor Johnson, Imogen Poots, Matthew Beard, Hannah Murray, Daniel Kaluuya
Plot: 5 teenagers are introduced to each other in a chatroom called “Chelsea Teens!”, all with different personalities. But when one shows its darker side, it threatens the life of the others.
Tagline – Control. Alter. Delete.
Runtime: 1 Hour 37 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Eye Opening
Story: Chatroom starts as William (Taylor-Johnson) opens up a new chatroom called ‘Chelsea Teens’ which sees four fellow teens Mo (Kaluuya), Jim (Beard), Emily (Murray) and Eva (Poots) join, while they are still on their laptops, we are show how a giant hotel has different chatrooms, for people to join for an open conversation.
Outside the chatroom, the five teens have their own problems, using their time in the chatroom to focus on dealing with the problems, escaping the pain of their everyday life, only are they being truthfully in the chatroom.
Thoughts on Chatroom
Characters – William sets up the chatroom, he does this to escape his overbearing parents that are trying to control his life, he does show a confidence in the chatroom, which will let people follow his instructions, suggestions to improve themselves, he does have hacking skills, which could make him a threat, but outside of the chatroom, he is on suicide levels of depression. Jim is a lonely teenager, he can’t communicate with people very well, which sees him finding any social interaction uncomfortable. Mo is nervous about being in the room, he is having a difficult mindset about a crush on an underage girl, where he knows it is wrong, only he is tempted to look into the ideas. Emily is from a posh family, she is being prepared for life in a proper manner, only she is becoming angry about the location she is in, turning to the room for a chance to find someone to talk to, becoming more rebellious along the way. Eva is a model that is tired of being looked down upon by the fellow models, she wants a change, which William starts to offer, while helping Emily out of her own slump, preparing her to open up more in the world.
Performances – We have an excellent cast here, most of these actors have gone onto bigger projects and you can see why, being showing us how talent the likes of Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Daniel Kaluuya, Imogen Poots and Hannah Murray are, add in Matthew Beard, we have a cast that shows just how difficult growing up can be.
Story – The story here follows five teenagers that turn to chatrooms to help them deal with the problems in their lives, until they see it become more of a personal issue. When looking at this story we must remember it was made in 2010, when chatrooms were still a bigger thing, the dangers of them had become clearer and here we see how certain rooms can be used in other methods, to create the events through the film. The real life issues of depression and using the chatroom for escape, we see how isolation happens, with technology becoming the place you turn, which can cause even more pain. Showing us just how depression can consume people without the right people around them.
Thriller – The film does create a thrilling side, by seeing how William is becoming consumed with wanting to use the power he seems to have gained through his action.
Settings – The film uses the setting of everyday to show the difficult lives the characters are living through, this is everything you would expect to see, what is the stand out of location, would be the hotel like structure that the chatrooms are designed to look like, the halls, the doors, each room fits the theme created.
Scene of the Movie – The meetings.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The Mo side of the story doesn’t get enough exploration.
Final Thoughts – This is an interesting thriller that hits hard on the dangers of the modern world obsession with social media, showing how people could spiral out of control as they look for help in the wrong places.
Overall: Great Thriller.
Signature Entertainment presents Chatroom on Amazon Prime July 3rd
