We Met in Virtual Reality

This film was so touching, the care that Joe Hunting had for his subjects is so tangible. This film could of easily portrayed this world as a strange, scary place full of creeps. But instead it lingers on the beauty, love, and tenderness of the space. Each of the subjects speak with so much maturity, openness, and respect. I walked away from the film feeling immersed in a new world, full of amazing new friends.

I can understand why this film may of not landed with some, but I personally felt inspired and uplifted by this documentary. It is definitely on the slow side at times, and does not have a large, overarching story that most films follow. But that was what the film is about, its about just being with these people, in this time, learning about their lives when all of us were struggling IRL.

I would give this a watch, for sure, just keep an open mind.

As a film, it doesn't really work. I found myself wondering what the underlying message the filmmaker was trying to send, but ultimately it came across to me as a clip show of a few people playing in a VR world. Much like watching someone else play a videogame, I found my interest waning about halfway through, so maybe there was a grand conclusion I missed; it just wasn't compelling enough to grab my interest.

Credit where credit is due, though. It was a creative use of time during the height of the pandemic.

As "We Met In Virtual Reality" (2022 release; 91 min) opens, the movie screen informs us that "The journey began in December, 2020." We watch people in a bar, then at a Community Meeting of some sort. We meet Jenny, who is teaching in a most deaf community. Ray, deaf herself, also teaches there. At this point we are 10 min into the movie.

Couple of comments: this movie is the debut of writer-director Joe Hurting. Here he gives us a glimpse into the virtual world where people, using avatars, interact with other people (also using avatars of course). What really threw me for a loop is that this is supposedly a documentary but it never left like a documentary to me. Instead it feels like a very scripted and highly stylistic look at today's dating scene as it plays out on-line and in other virtual settings. I must give Hurting props for the unusual visuals that he brings this in. But also strangely off-putting. When a male avatar asks a female avatar: "will you marry me in VRChat?" and she says "yes", it felt a little weird for me. Bottom line: I was quite confused by this movie experience and didn't know what all to make of it, to be honest.

"We Met in Virtual Reality" premiered at this year's Sundance to positive buzz, and the movie is currently rated 96% Certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie started streaming on HBO Max last week and I couldn't wait to check it out. Alas, it was not the movie that I expected, and in fact I just felt confused. Regardless, if you are interested in what life is like in virtual reality, I'd encourage you to check it out, and draw your own conclusion.

Saw this at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival

Usually movies about the modern digital media, the internet and social media tends to fall flat because many movies either don't simply understand how the internet works and how the modern media age goes by. Very few movies like Searching, Feels Good Man and The Mitchells vs. The Machines actually understands how the internet works and how modern digital media goes on. Director Joe Hunting clearly knows how VR works and this documentary did surprise me.

Filled entirely inside the VRChat platform, it never once felt boring or uninteresting as there were many different and interesting discussions about how people are able to connect with each through the virtual worlds. Especially during the pandemic and how it had a major impact on this certain individuals. Hunting was able to capture the realism about how people go on their days through VR and he was able to bring many interesting insights about this topic. It's definitely not a perfect documentary as there were some technical moments that could be improved throughout and it did feel a little too long. About 10 or 15 minutes of the film could have been trimmed.

I believe even if you didn't grow up through the online years or digital years, you will still be able to get something out from this. Being someone who grew up with the internet surrounding me, I was able to connect with the movie personally. I recommend this and I do look forward what director Joe Hunting would do in the future.

Rating: B+

Very refreshing to see a doc that doesn't involve a homicide or general destruction of something precious. If you open your mind before watching this film, you'll come away inspired.

It takes us into a nascent world that few in the mainstream would otherwise see and never once is the audience held above the subjects. They and this world they have helped create are treated with the utmost respect and we meet them entirely on their terms, which is another thing that separates this from most documentaries. There's also some real filmmaking muscle on display here, particularly in the establishing shots, general framing of shots and the subtle way exposition is handled.

I was completely fascinated and greatly moved in several parts. This film gave me hope for humanity that I hadn't felt in a minute.