Post by StevePulaski on Jul 30, 2011 22:28:51 GMT -5
Liana Liberato.
Rating: ★★★★
Trust is somewhat shocking in 2010, but how shocking would it have been if it was made in the time when chat-rooms were very popular among a teenage crowd? Circa 2002 - 2006, chat-rooms predated Myspace and the now current Facebook. It would've been extremely shocking, and a little eye-opening. Still, even in 2010, Trust holds up and stands strong as a very realistic and very exhilarating film.
This is by far the best of the online movie trilogy as of 2011. We had the 2010 documentary Catfish that centered around two filmmakers documenting the relationship their friend pieces together online with what they believe to be a child protege in painting. We had the 2011 ABC Family film Cyberbully that was bashed for the most part, but I liked it enough to recommend to others. Now we have David Schwimmer's Trust, and it blows those two out of the water with its gripping storytelling and its strong, and sometimes very vague events.
Trust is about a fourteen year old girl named Annie (Liberato) forming a relationship with whom she believes to be a boy around her age named Charlie. This character Annie meets online continues to bump his age up to twenty then twenty-five, and as time goes on Charlie wants to meet Annie at the local mall. Upon meeting Charlie (Coffey), Annie discovers he is actually a thirty-five year old male.
Charlie convinces Annie that the age-gap between them means nothing, and she is a mature and smart girl with a beautiful body. Charlie lures Annie back to an apartment where they have sex, and he secretly films it. Annie tells her best friend, and from there, things spiral out of control. Her friend tells the principal of the High School, and now Annie is in a whole lot more than she bargained for.
Her parents (Owen and Keener) are appalled and shocked by the act, and while Annie believes Charlie really loves her, it doesn't take long to realize she was the victim of statutory rape. Annie is frustrated with her parents for making a "federal case" out of her losing her virginity, and she is also upset because she believes that Charlie is now mad at her, completely ignoring the fact she was just taken advantage of.
David Schwimmer's directing is phenomenal here. The performances are stellar. And Clive Owen does Oscar worthy work here as Annie's father whose reactions to the rape are nonetheless typical of any other father's. He wants the man brought to justice, he wants to beat the hell out of him, and he wants to just take back what the man did to his daughter. His temper and aggravation sore in this film as he begins to reach his breaking point.
Where Trust really hits home is in its performances. Honestly, the cast makes this film work. The storyline is a fragile one. The bad thing with story-lines that are focused online and about cyber-bullying is that they can easily be brought down by immaturity, script, or acting. Things can go over the top way too fast. Trust never seems to run into that problem. It appears to be on autopilot throughout the whole film never worrying about anything coming in its way. It's mature and realistic.
Just like Jennifer Lawrence in Winter's Bone, I'm sure Liana Liberato will work on some more magnificent films in her long lifetime. Trust showcases how great of an actress she is, and many more roles playing the same innocent teen girl in a real life situations will continue to break out the star in her.
When Trust delivers the end information, you really question what kind of people are pedophiles? They aren't just people that sit out in their vacant houses, jobless, waiting for a girl to come along online. They have their own lives and sometimes their own families. This is a brilliantly constructed, brilliantly executed film that is powerful in its emotions, delivery, and message.
Starring: Liana Liberato, Clive Owen, Catherine Keener, and Chris Henry Coffey. Directed by: David Schwimmer.