Internet Affairs

Watched these two DVD documentaries, and it was just a coincidence that we ended up with these particular ones during the same week - a coincidence because the subject matter is very similar.

Talhotblond
Summary: This is the true story of a love triangle that takes place entirely online. Lies lead to murder in real life, as a teenage vixen (screen name 'talhotblond') lures men into her web. Revealing a shocking true crime story that shows the Internet's power to unleash our most dangerous fantasies.

Catfish
Tagline: Don't let anyone tell you what it is.
Summary: In late 2007, filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost sensed a story unfolding as they began to film the life of Ariel's brother, Nev. They had no idea that their project would lead to the most exhilarating and unsettling months of their lives. A reality thriller that is a shocking product of our times, Catfish is a riveting story of love, deception and grace within a labyrinth of online intrigue.

They both deal with cyberspace relationships and the pitfalls. Catfish also makes you think of the unique positive opportunities these relationships and social networks can provide - opportunities that didn’t really exist before the internet came along (at least not occurring at lightning speed, and the speed of communications is often what creates the unique situations).

Talhotblond explores the much, much darker areas of human obsession and desire. We’ve kept the conversations going on both of these movies, and don’t agree about everything. Sorry… but I am really trying to avoid posting spoilers – it’s best that you know as little as possible about the content of each one of these before seeing them. We knew nothing about Talhotblond, and had a very big surprise in the end stretch of it. Catfish has had more press, and we had both heard something spoilerish (and couldn’t even share “well, what did you hear?” without possibly spoiling something for the other person). As it turned out, we had both heard the same spoiler, and now we cannot agree whether that tidbit of spoilage was true or not. If you plan on seeing them – don’t use ‘teh google’ first.

If you only see one of them, I would really recommend Talhotblond more.


(If you have a spoilerish comment to leave, please write SPOILER at the beginning of it. Thank you!)