by KYLE LAUGH
Streamer is written and directed by the pair consisting of Jared Bratt and Vincent Pun and stars Bratt in the lead who plays a character by the same first name, alongside Tanya Lee who plays the role of Ivy.
The film was based off of a 2013 short also entitled “Streamer” which Bratt had once again wrote and direct. Streamer follows the story or Jared, a man with a lack of self confidence and seemingly unable to find love in his life. Due to this, Jared starts to fall for a cam girl and attempts to build a relationship with her online. When it’s revealed that said cam girl is living within the same building as he is, he tries to build a secondary relationship with her in person.
According to the films website, Bratt based the film on his own past experience of a would be relationship in which he had misinterpreted the woman’s feelings towards him. This experience was a devastating one to him but upon creating the film, he was able to get closure regarding this situation.
To begin, I will state that this in no way a horror film, at least in my own personal beliefs. As they say, horror is subjective and this may be considered to be part of the genre for some people, so no judgement. For myself, I felt like this was more of a drama film which makes sense as it had won Best Drama Film at the Hollywood Verge Film Awards. So, Kudos to them!
Jared Bratt & Tanya Lee in "Streamer"
When we received the screener and information from the distributor, the first thing I did was check out the trailer. This was a highly unfortunate move on my part as it explained the film as a whole and had me quickly make a prediction as to what would happen come the films end. A simple prediction which would inevitably come to fruition.
When it came to the film itself, I found it to be lacking in dialogue. What was said by both characters was fairly simple and straight to the point but could never be combined in order to piece together a proper conversation. This could be the resulting factor of the writers attempt to display how socially awkward Jared is in the film. This, paired with extended bouts of silence did not aid in keeping my interest on the screen as a viewer and had caught myself getting bored and focusing my attention on other things, forcing me to rewind in order to see if I had missed anything throughout those few minutes.
Although the dialogue is a key issue, there are some redeeming factors to the movie such as great physical acting from both Bratt and Lee but more particularly from Bratt as his acting truly displays his emotions, sensibilities and displays the characters mental issues incredibly well. He also does have a very good monologue in the opening scene which does explain everything a viewer may need to know about him without the use of a backstory.
The other plus factor is the cinematography. It is beautifully shot and makes me believe that both Bratt and Pun have a bright future in the industry once they can improve on some of the aforementioned issues.
Again, to me, this is not a horror film, and depending on the film itself, i’m not much of a drama guy per say either. It’s a good movie in its own right but not something I believe the horror community would enjoy.
4 out of 10.
Trailer
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