Chatroom (2010)★★★★★

Before I say anything else about this movie, I need to offer the biggest Content Warning AND Spoiler Warning I’ve written yet. This movie is about, and depicts, suicide, depression, and bullying, including driving others to suicide.

If you or someone you know needs help, please (in the US) dial 988, the National Suicide Lifeline, visit https://www.crisistextline.org/ , or text HOME to 741741 to reach a volunteer Crisis Counselor.

I think this is the best work Aaron Taylor-Johnson has ever done. He is terrifying, awful, and wholly believable as William. Daniel Kaluuya, Hannah Murray, Imogen Poots, and Matthew Beard all turn in wonderful supporting performances as the other four Chelsea Teens(!), but they are clearly in support of Aaron Taylor-Johnson.

Look, maybe this is a bad movie. Maybe if you have no experience with depression, bullying, or suicidal thoughts, this isn’t affecting storytelling. Maybe the physical, visual representation of the online chat rooms is silly and off-putting. But it gets to me deeply. It’s heart-wrenching, gut-wrenching, sad and somehow hopeful all in one.

I think there’s something so interesting about the cinematography choices here. The online interactions are so loud and brightly colored, while everything in the “real” world is muted. There is some incredible blocking in scenes, particularly some of William’s scenes with the others.

This movie was directed by Hideo Nakata, probably best known for the original Ringu (and Ring 2) and Dark Water in Japanese, as well as the English-language sequel to The Ring, The Ring Two. He knows how to scare an audience, and uses it to great effect here.

There are some oddities in pacing and dialogue that I couldn’t quite understand the first time I saw this movie, but now that I know it’s based on a play of the same name (by Enda Walsh, who wrote the adapted screenplay as well), that explains some of it.

This movie is dark, tense, and hard to watch. And I think it’s a fantastic scary story.