"What took her family years to build.
A stranger stole in an instant."
Ayala Malls Cinemas
David Schwimmer aka as Ross from the defunct TV series "Friends" directs this highly emotional tale about the perils of online chatting.
Annie (Liana Liberato) is a 14 year old girl who befriends a guy named "Charlie" through a chat program. He claims to be a teenager but eventually his true age keeps rising as they swap messages, chats and phone conversations. After two months, she agrees to meet him for real. When they meet at the mall, he turns out to be a man in his late 30s. Yet he is verbally charming and maintains that age doesn't matter and that Annie is the only one who truly gets him. The 'date' ends horribly after Charlie sexually molests the hapless girl in a motel.
This whole scenario is a parent's worst nightmare. The devastation of Annie’s parents (Clive Owen and Catherine Keener) is very realistically essayed although it does jar with poor Annie's jumbled emotions of infatuation and confusion – feelings which are treated with sincerity and respect.
Similarly, the emotional impact of Annie's story is slightly lessened by a shift of focus to Owen's character in the second half, though at least the film never turns into the vigilante drama it seems to be leaning towards.
"Trust" provided a good character study from the points of view of the victim Annie and her devastated father Will. Major portions of the film played out like the Hallmark TV movie of the week with its fair share of heavy drama to pull at your heartstrings.
But overall, it is a well made, terrifically acted and powerfully moving drama that delivers an important message. We cannot truly protect the ones we love from harm's way. What is more important is how we support the people we love when they are hurt rather than dwelling on how they got hurt.
Annie (Liana Liberato) is a 14 year old girl who befriends a guy named "Charlie" through a chat program. He claims to be a teenager but eventually his true age keeps rising as they swap messages, chats and phone conversations. After two months, she agrees to meet him for real. When they meet at the mall, he turns out to be a man in his late 30s. Yet he is verbally charming and maintains that age doesn't matter and that Annie is the only one who truly gets him. The 'date' ends horribly after Charlie sexually molests the hapless girl in a motel.
This whole scenario is a parent's worst nightmare. The devastation of Annie’s parents (Clive Owen and Catherine Keener) is very realistically essayed although it does jar with poor Annie's jumbled emotions of infatuation and confusion – feelings which are treated with sincerity and respect.
Similarly, the emotional impact of Annie's story is slightly lessened by a shift of focus to Owen's character in the second half, though at least the film never turns into the vigilante drama it seems to be leaning towards.
"Trust" provided a good character study from the points of view of the victim Annie and her devastated father Will. Major portions of the film played out like the Hallmark TV movie of the week with its fair share of heavy drama to pull at your heartstrings.
But overall, it is a well made, terrifically acted and powerfully moving drama that delivers an important message. We cannot truly protect the ones we love from harm's way. What is more important is how we support the people we love when they are hurt rather than dwelling on how they got hurt.
No comments:
Post a Comment