Trust (2011)

Despite the name "Trust", Annie was never at any point supporting or protecting "Charlie", after the fact. She was merely protecting herself, because her actions, including those of "Charlie", are sadly, not mutually exclusive. This, made it refreshingly simple, to sympathize with Annie, and that is perhaps what Trust did best; portraying her process, and her shock.Trust was a compelling story, which was unfortunately told by a director who couldn't quite get their tongue around the topic, and provide a completely satisfying journey of emotion and attention. However, be that as it may, Trust was competent.The main casts' performance, including Clarke and Davis, was of actors who were doing enough to show they can in fact act, at a drop of a hat with little effort. They weren't amazing, but they were showing how amazing they could be if they wanted to... If the project was right or better.Overall, though Trust was a pretty decent effort from Schwimmer, I was disappointed at the potential lost in this story. I did however, like how it ended, and had the rest of the movie been equally enthralling, that ending could've been an incredibly dispiriting moment of artistic flair. 6.4/10

Trust feels like a mixture of a documentary and drama...Annie is a teenage girl who seems a bit outcasted but finds a connection with another teenage boy online...who is actually practically twice her age...as his lies unfold when they meet things take a turn for the worst...Annie is then raped and believes it's just an agape love intercourse...as time goes on and the FBI looking for this man who has used other girls around her age or younger reality hit home...Annie then breaks down and later finds her face photoshopped on an image two people having sex doggy style at school...she heads back home and slips past her dad and overdoses on a medication...she recovers but the ending doesn't show that the man who raped her is found...The nine star rating is true...having a daughter of my own this is a real eye opener of the dangers of internet chatting and what can happen as time goes on...I would say parents show this film to your daughters when they begin to chat online more often...without being careful God forbid something similar happen to them...Excellent movie acting needs a little work but the message is what makes this movie worth seeing...

It would have been easy to bump Annie's age up or down a few years, either to explicitly spell out the crime or to blur its boundaries. It would have been even easier to make Charlie a little older, a little less handsome, to really steer home the message. David Schwimmer resists this temptation, because his close experiences working as an advocate for rape victims and their families inform him. It's not always so clear cut, the abuser is not going to make his approach with clear signs of shadiness and evil. This message may be startlingly clear for most adults that watch this film, but for the 14 year old Annie, it is a difficult reality to face.Liana Liberato would have been about 15 during filming, and it is a crucial element of her character. Too young, and it is unequivocally a horrifying act of abuse, too old, and the boundaries are blurred and audiences might react like Will's boss does. The film starts off like any teenage set film would; with corny shallow siblings, a cool mum that shouts profanities, a caring but slightly overbearing dad, and of course the rather cringe-worthy school gossip scene that has cliques and parties and a whole world of murkiness that parents want to prevent their child from diving into for as long as possible. Schwimmer could have done better here in the world-building and thus create a bigger impact later. He mistakes risqué in the teen girl dialogue for authenticity, when in reality it is rather unbearable, and the best friend is sorely underused, but rather prodded into scenes in order to further the plot. There are signs of societal enabling that show little tack; Will's boss admires a young waitress hungrily, and later is predictably less sympathetic to the news of rape than Schwimmer would like him to be. There's also the explicit advertising industry that Will works and is forced to re-evaluate. At times it seems he is old (and his son exists solely to point this out), and out of his depth in the increasingly profane new world. Finally, the setting of the school is shallow at best, which makes the whole sub-plot of the cyber-bullying website feel unnecessarily cruel and contrived.There are three great scenes which convince me that Trust can handle this type of issue with maturity and nuance rather than being ham- fisted and insensitive. The first is Annie's confrontation with Will in her room, where the two ideal's clash and he is forced to heartbreakingly retreat when it is clear that she is still convinced of Charlie's genuine and loving intentions. Liberato makes this agonising, because even as we disagree vehemently (as Will clearly does and tries to persuade her), we are saddened deeply that any person would do this to a 14 year old, and even worse, do it so well that she refuses to admit the manipulation. Schwimmer is respectful of her perspective, which is why it is that more heartbreaking when she finally realises what she has been the victim of. It has a much more emotional effect than the screaming matches of Keener and Owen, which seem to be a more artificial conflict created solely to drive Will's increasing madness and hunger for revenge. Still, Lynn's ambitions are motherly, caring and good; she knows that the path ahead is through healing, not anger or vengeance. That paves the way for the second scene, the penultimate talk beside the pool. Many dramas have this type of talk, the reminiscing of older nostalgic times where life was safer, warmer, more cheerful. Clive Owen makes this one work because of his tragic performance where the hardened, protective and raging father crumbles and begs her forgiveness for not shielding her from this harm. There are no offers of a bright happy ending, but one with understanding and healing in time. The final scene is of course that last haunting segment, where Schwimmer uses the found footage hand-held style to present to us the real life of Charlie. Again, it would have been easy to make him haggard, or a creep, or not handsome. It would have been even easier to end with his just arrest and prosecution, maybe even Annie striking a last blow in her testimony. But instead we are dealt a chilling, harsh blow. This man exists somewhere in society, and is even a teacher with daily correspondence with similarly aged kids. It's a bleak reminder that these things happen all too often, and are often more complicated than they may seem. I admire David Schwimmer for tackling this issue with this sort of maturity and emotional impact. It's not perfect, but he hits the right notes where it matters.

I have to say that 'Trust' is a good film, although, if, like me, you're a parent, you may find it more than a little hard to watch. It's a drama about a nice, normal, middle-class American family, whose life is ripped apart when their thirteen year old daughter meets a 'boyfriend' online. It's fair to say that this 'boy' is more of a man, but 'predator' may be a better description.It's hard-hitting and definitely not a feel-good movie. In places it's pretty full on and has received some criticism for taking certain scenes – what some people perceive to be – a little 'too far' in the name of making a point.I found it more 'horrific' than most – supposed – horror films, largely because it's totally believable and sadly very true to most families' lives, especially those with children who are starting to spread their wings and take a few independent steps online.Whether you love or hate the film, it's a story that needs to be told and, more importantly, understood. Parents need to be aware of who exactly their children may be communicating with online from the privacy of their own bedroom. While the kids themselves need to be aware that the nice kid they've met in chatroom may be anything but who they say they are.'Trust' isn't suitable for kids – naturally – but, in some ways, I almost see it as a 'public information' film about the dangers of internet relationship. It's a hard film to watch and, just because it's not a true story, doesn't mean that it's not tragically true.http://thewrongtreemoviereviews.blogspot.co.uk/