All Your Secrets (Todos tu Secretos)
Where: Parkside Hotel
When: Tonight, 7:15
Rating: 3/5 stars
Remember Time Code, Mike Figgis’s groundbreaking 2000 feature in which scenes shot with four synchronized cameras in different locations simultaneously appeared on a quartered screen? Spanish filmmaker Manuel Bartual innovatively expands on that technique, telling his story using webcam footage displayed on nine miniature screens when its characters’ computers are activated. It gets off to a slow start and takes some getting used to, but there are dramatic payoffs once you buy into Bartual’s timely, talky little dramatic thriller about the downside of social media. As time passes, a cautionary tale emerges about the dangers inherent in our addiction to technology that can backfire when too much information is shared online. The simple plot reveals a web of secrets, lies and betrayal and its impact on a group of friends and co-workers, their intersecting lives at home (a birthday party, domestic disagreements and so on) and at the office digitally scrutinized via their computers’ webcams. While Bartual’s compelling drama is slight on the surface, it’s embedded with sly commentary on the perils of inter-connectedness starting with one incriminating image. Chances are you’ll be covering your laptop’s webcam with duct tape when it’s over.
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