The Parlor (2001)
A group of people are gathered in a room, which is a "live" depiction of a typical Internet chat room. Some pretends to be much younger than they are, to chat up minors. Two of them falls victim of their own scam in a surprising way.
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Too much of everything
Fresh and Exciting
At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.
I love short films, but but this was more than I expected. It was simply cool beyond words. And the twisted ending was brilliant. Overall, more than worth spending the ten minutes or so to watch it. Its sort of weird trying to figure out what's going on, and once you do it is just hilarious. I enjoyed the mind games.
I wouldn't call it brilliant or genius, but The Parlor is certainly an amusing piece... and definitely worth a watch.** possible spoilers **I knew what it was about after about a minute or two, probably because I spend a fair amount of time online and know about the stereotypes that are associated with 'chat rooms', and it was rather realistic in that regard... Whether or not it's a true and accurate representation of chat rooms in general is a different story... Might be, might not be. Either way, it was witty and very well made. However, I do think I've seen a comic strip or something with the same theme in the past though, so it didn't strike me as overly brilliant or original. Thumbs up nonetheless.
I found this on a friend's profile on Instant Messenger, and at first had no idea what it was. Up until the last two minutes or so, I was very confused, but I'm glad I kept watching until the end ... upon finishing the clip, I came to IMDb to see exactly what it was: a short film, an excerpt from something, etc. I would love to see this more of this man's work; I'd REALLY like to see this piece go to Cannes or Sundance if it hasn't already -- I can see it winning an award. Definitely check it out.
It takes a few minutes to understand what is going on, but that moment of realization is immensely satisfying, as you realize, "I've done that!" A very witty satire with a great ending. Can't wait to see more from the director.