PVT Chat Review: An Unfiltered and Dominating Look Into Online Personas

Release date: February 5, 2021
Running time: 89 minutes
Stars:  Peter Vack, Julia Fox, Buddy Duress, Keith Poulson, Kevin Moccia, David J. White
Written and Directed By: Ben Hozie

Jack (Vack) is a lonely internet gambler living in New York City. He quickly becomes fixated on Scarlet (Fox) - a cam girl from San Francisco. As Jack learns more about Scarlet, he discovers her unrealized talent as a painter and begins to fall hard for her. His obsession reaches a boiling point when fantasy materializes in reality and Jack sees Scarlet on a rainy street in NYC Chinatown. While Scarlet is clearly hiding her whole truth, milking Jack’s wallet in the process, she also seems to develop genuine feelings for him. Jack has to find out - is their emotional connection real or is he just being taken for a ride?

PVT CHAT has an interesting start that really sets the stage for this entire film.  The movie does not pull punches in many respects, with what I imagine are accurate representations of online dominatrix cam girl interactions.  Jack is fully obsessed from the start and both Vack and Fox go all in for this film.  There are compromising and revealing situations that show just how committed to this film these actors were.  And the film does look at an interesting facet of life, one that is all the more relevant today in our strange time.  On top of having entire interactions online, the movie deals with some other facets of our internet and increasingly online world.  The movie touches on online personas and interactions that are only over camera, and the lengths that people go to both protect and deceive in these situations.  And it does so in an environment that many might not have experienced.  But one thing that I also appreciated about this film is that it gives some insight into the lives of online personas.  Scarlet makes her money as a cam girl, but the film also lets you peel back that persona and see the person behind it and her thoughts and dreams.  And Jack puts himself out as a wealthy tech guru, but as you learn more about his life you realize that this is not entirely accurate.  

However, PVT CHAT does have a decent story arc and plenty of changes to the characters, but I feel like it developed well at the start and then barreled to the conclusion.  It felt like the last third of the film was rushed and I would have liked a little more time to have been spent for that part of the story.  Also, as already mentioned, the film does have an unfiltered, uncensored look at this relationship.  That might be a bit extreme for some viewers, so just come forewarned.  The movie did have an indie charm to it and a lot of interesting characters.  And I also appreciate that it dealt with aspects of addiction, service, obsession, and friendship.  And the film felt very modern and relevant given our current situation.

PVT CHAT's unfiltered relationship and setting will dominate your focus as you explore this look into the online personas we use and the line between online and real life. 

Rent it.

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PVT CHAT is in theaters on February 5, 2021 and digitally and on demand February 9, 2021.

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