On_Line

Director(s): Jed Weintrob
Writer(s): Andrew Osborne, Jed Weintrob
Producer(s): Adam Brightman, Tanya Selvaratnam
Starring: Josh Hamilton, Harold Perrineau

John and Moe have created a new website that allows others to sign on and live out their fantasies with a person signed on and waiting just for them. While John struggles to get over his ex-fiancee, he finds solace in watching a mysterious online girl through her webcam. Ed is a teenager struggling with his sexuality in a small town in Ohio. He signs online to connect with Al in New York and together they develop a net-based relationship. Ed's friend Moira is a suicidal addict who develops a relationship with Moe, but realizes that Moe is being unfaithful with Jordan, an online fantasy provider who happens to be hitting it off with John. Worlds collide when Moira attempts overdosing on pills while streaming herself online. The characters prove just how small the digital world is and how there is only two degrees of separation between you and your favorite online obsession.

If you think my synopsis of the film is somewhat stunted and confusing, consider it an honest portrayal of the film itself. Sure the film does a good job of conveying the interconnectedness of the internet. While six degrees of separation may be the norm for the physical world, the internet world has to be divided by simply two degrees. Sure, online we are more connected than ever, but emotionally connecting with someone is just as hard as in the real world. It is rare that a true connection ever comes from signing online, yet more and more people today turn to sites like craigslist, eharmony, match.com, gay.com, etc, to meet that special someone. Some have luck, but most have this false sense of community that seems to be driven by selling oneself for some sort of validation. Having written extensively about biographical representation in the digital world, I could go on on this subject for hours. I'll save you all the undergrad lecture and save it for if and when we do meet. . . via the internet.

I pondered the thought of watching this film because of two main reasons. The first being that it was released by Wolfe Releasing, known for some notable LGBT films. The second reason is that the emphasis of internet relationships and the struggle to physically connect in today's world happens to be the subject matter for a film that my company is putting out...if and when we can get it made. I can honestly say our film will be a lot lighter and more romantic than this film. In a way I cannot say that our film is better than this film, but I can say that the internet has enough material in it to inspire dark films like On_Line as well as our romantic-comedy scheduled to hit theaters in 2011 (once we find a studio willing to make it).