Talhotblond

I truly do not understand the hate and hyper criticism this stunning documentary has received. I cannot imagine how it could have been made better. I thought the film was outstanding (and I have pretty much seen them all). Among many positives, it contained one of the Top 10 OMG moments in the history of film. People need to stop trying to be the next Roger Ebert and be thankful you are treated with cinematic gifts like this from time to time. They are so rare. The music was great. The narration was unique and very effective. The voice over actors were high caliber. The interviews where compelling. The story was astonishing (yet deeply sad of course).

I rarely see thrillers told as a documentary, or at least good documentaries, but that's what "Talhotblond" is. And it's done well.

It opens with a young man telling us that he was murdered - all because of lies told in a sexually-charged online chat room. Early on it seems we know the whole story of what happens, so I wasn't sure how they planned on keeping the film going. But there is so much more to this story. More than you could ever believe. They kept me watching because I wanted to try and solve the case, see how it all plays out. Although it may seem like they tell us the ending at the very beginning, they really didn't.

The story is paced well. We find out what we need to, when we need to, to keep watching, but never revealing all of the shocking secrets. It is hard to make a documentary about things said in an online chat room. I'm not sure if text across the screen is a good way, but I haven't thought of a better way. I found that it dragged a bit at the end, but that's probably just because I didn't feel that much justice was served to "Talhotblond".

"She unleashed a fantasy online that was addictive as any drug, and as lethal as any bullet."

Like the somewhat similar documentary Catfish, Talhotblond is a real-life story about how easy it is to hide behind a fictional identity online, and the problems that can result from such deceit. 

Talhotblond is an example of a worse case scenario of Internet deceit. A dangerous love triangle started online ends up in a murder and the destruction of several lives. Interviews from the people involved, psychiatric experts, and the law authorities who eventually became involved, paint a disturbing picture of manipulation and lies that is unfortunately all too true. 

If you're interested in the subject, check it out.

Love it or hate it, this documentary holds a mirror up to a dark, disturbing side of humanity. Of course you can choose to accept or reject that this lies within us collectively, but make no mistake, the director artfully tells a story that rates as one of "strangest but true" ever. The kind of story that evokes such emotion from the user who called this movie "awful" ... it's that good. On the technical side, the music selected for the soundtrack fits well. The narrator's POV is very effective, and the pacing has the gradual build up that makes the climactic point that much stronger. The story itself is the find of a lifetime for a writer. It could easily have been mistreated, but in the director's hands, comes out as a documentary masterpiece.

The premise of this film interested me, as I met my share of posers on the Internet when I first got online. Frankly, I didn't expect much more than your run of the mill Investigative Discovery segment, so I was busy doing other things online when the film started. I was not prepared to be immediately sucked in by its intensity. The very first comments by the narrator engaged me completely. The use of soft, tender music instead of the usual suspenseful choices in a crime presentation lulls the viewer right into the relationship between Jessi and Tommy and keeps you there. It beautifully augments the slowly rolling instant messages that draw the development of the relationship. The rhythm of the two together tinted the exchanges with a reflective eeriness that gives the viewer enough time to read, absorb and experience the eeriness of the whole situation. And the discovery at the end just blew my mind. A thoughtful and disturbing film that leaves you breathless and thinking.