Fantasia 2020 review: Julia Fox is mesmerizing as a camgirl in the gritty ‘PVT Chat’

The first virtual edition of Montreal’s Fantasia Film Festival is here! In the coming days, we’ll be presenting capsule reviews of a number of films screening at the festival, filmmaker interviews, and much more. All of our 2020 Fantasia coverage can be found here. For the full schedule and tickets, head to the Fantasia screening site. 

Perfectly timed for this current moment where most of us are spending all of our time in front of a computer (including attending this virtual film festival), Ben Hozie’s PVT Chat is a thrilling and unsettling look at how addiction and loneliness co-exist online, where any fantasy can be played out if you can afford it.

Jack (Peter Vack) can barely maintain any relationships in his real life. He spends his nights gambling online in his small New York apartment, hoping to raise enough money to fund online sex sessions with his favourite San Francisco-based camgirl Scarlet (Julia Fox). As they spend more time together, they begin opening up to each other, exploring their passions and hopes for the future. It almost begins to feel like a real long-distance relationship — but where is the line between fantasy and reality?

Things escalate when Jack spots Scarlet in a local NYC bodega — when she denies it was her, Jack becomes obsessed with tracking her down, enlisting the help of a pair of scuzzy new acquaintances, including the unstable Larry (Buddy Duress).

Featuring Safdie Brothers regular Buddy Duress and Julia Fox in her first role since her breakout in Uncut Gems, PVT Chat shows another side of the grimy NYC that the Safdies revel in — Ben Hozie takes us inside the endless rows of shoebox New York apartments for an uncomfortable look at a man consumed with his fantasy life, and the very real consequences when he tries to turn that dream into a reality.

With strong performances across the board (Fox is completely magnetic as an online kirk purveyor) and filmed with appropriately claustrophobic style, PVT Chat is a brutally honest look at the ways in which we all deceive ourselves and each other.

PVT Chat screens once more during the virtual Fantasia Film Festival on Tuesday, August 25 at 11:00 pm. Tickets are available here.