Movie Reviews

After having spent seven years in prison, Rudy Vandekerckhove is released and moves into a small place that a buddy of his lets him have. Other than that he doesn’t have a lot going for him… he can’t find a job, gets in a bar fight and his ex-wife won’t talk to him. So what does a man do? Well, he visits a porn site on his buddy’s computer and starts talking to a webcam girl… no seriously, they’re just talking! Of course it’s not just any girl as it turns out later but let’s not give away too much.

“Offline” is director Peter Monsaert’s first feature movie and he does a pretty decent job with this drama with the help of Triggerfinger who wrote the soundtrack for the movie. Wim Willaert is great as the ex-con with his bushy beard and a cigarette that’s permanently lodged in the corner of his mouth. Anemone Valcke is equally believable as webcam girl Vicky, even though she falls short in the scene where she suffers a breakdown.

The same can be said for a couple of other emotionally charged scenes like the one where Rudy flies off the handle while looking for a job. The storyline involving a woman he meets feels underdeveloped as well and serves as little more than a way of informing the viewer why Rudy went to jail. It makes  “Offline” a decent enough movie even though it is slightly flawed in places.