Another low-budget but interesting outing that I checked out lately comes with Chatlines, from UK director Neil Ely—blending LGBT romance with something fantastical. Question is, does it indeed have something to say, or does it feel out of time already?
Main protagonist and co-director Lloyd Eyre-Morgan plays a man dying young from cancer in his early 30s—but despite such a grim situation, still decides to make the most of the time he has left, with support from his sister played by Faye McKeever. One outlet is logging onto a chat-roulette website, to eventually make contact with another man in a similar situation (Nico Mirallego)…except that it turns out that their connection is very literally spanning time, with the other in 2005, a time when all-encompassing internet usage was on the rise if not quite as dominating as it was now.
There’s clashes over this, trying to determine fate and paradoxes be damned…and just trying to see if a relationship can indeed be made over a screen, a question that certainly crops up a lot these days. Most of the film is presented by webcam view or Vlog-snippets—as interesting as a modern ‘found footage’ can get, and reasonably authentic in that regard. It has to be said that this also really isn’t the sort of film interested in explaining the far-out mechanics of what’s going on—things here sort of essentially happen because they happen.
But what does work by far is the acting—Nico pretty much steals the show here as a working-class fella who’s quick on the tongue, as does most of the others. The dialogue feels improvized and offhandedly flowing even though it wasn’t, which is always impressive—and, as kind of weird as some things get on paper, that key factor is what kept the audience going here. You’ve got something mostly filmed off laptops, but yet, by just keeping the core of the story real enough, somehow it works.
Some might find the fantasy elements distracting, but otherwise, there’s enough sincerity there that for many it’s definitely worth a watch. As of writing I’m not sure where it’ll end up even if venues are being tracked down, but certainly give it a try when it does.
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