'Trust' confronts online sex predation

The suburban American home is not a safe place. Not with sex criminals prowling the Net for targets, making modern communications tech a double-edged sword. A theme that’s oh so Web One Point Oh? Yeah, but that doesn’t make this movie any less compelling. Trust is about how 14-year-old high school athlete Annie, played by rising talent Liana Liberato (from 2007’s The Last Sin Eater) who bears a striking resemblance to ex-adult film star Sasha Grey, gets seduced and drawn into the arms of a crafty pedophile.

You see, Annie thinks she’s chatting with a 15-year-old boy named "Charlie" that she met in a volleyball chat site. Charlie later tells her that he's actually a college student, even sending her fake photos of himself in volleyball attire. Later still, he confesses that he's a 25-year-old graduate student. The chats fly in from the bottom of the screen and appear as they are typed, mimicking a virtual chatroom, but soon the chats graduate to sweet text messages and then to long cellphone calls. When they finally meet face to face – surprise, surprise – Annie is shocked to see that Charlie is obviously in his late 30s. By this time, Annie’s already head over heels for Charlie and not even his weathered face or physique can prevent her from grabbing ice cream with him, getting into his car, and eventually checking into a motel together. Starring Clive Owen and Catherine Keener as Annie's parents Will and Lynn Cameron, Trust is directed by David Schwimmer (yes, Ross from Friends), based on a stage play of the same title that he wrote. While the movie requires a fair amount of suspension of disbelief, it’s a dead on portrait of a family wrenched apart by the rape of a minor. There are certainly vestigial elements here (Clive Owen’s character being British, for one, has no bearing on the plot whatsoever), but the spotty script is more than made up for by intense scenes that are artfully left pregnant, the build-up by characterization, and the surprising denouement. In press interviews, Schwimmer has said that he hopes "viewers leave wanting to engage in more dialogue about parenting in the age of technology." While the movie is meant as a warning to parents, there’s no need to be one to appreciate it. Just think of your teen daughter, sister or cousin and there will be clarity. The meat of the story though, is in the aftermath. When Annie’s parents find out about her rape from the authorities, an FBI investigation begins and Annie goes to post-trauma therapy as the Cameron family life begins to unravel and fray. “Why was our daughter talking like a porn star?!" yells a distraught Will Cameron at his wife when he gets a hold of the FBI’s cellphone transcriptions between Annie and Charlie. What’s in there is flirtation, reciprocated sexual innuendos, and photos of Annie in revealing poses (that the girl shot herself through her iPhone). Through it all, Annie deals with the issue through a variety of Stockholm’s Syndrome stages. Her mind copes by deniability, internalization, and defense of her rapist. She makes excuses for him: it wasn’t entirely his fault, it was love that motivated the whole act, the FBI and her parents are keeping soul mates apart. You pray and ache for a breakthrough for this very impressionable and very young girl. As the movie progresses there are scenes that are very hard to watch, that make you writhe in your seat in frustration. Your mind recoils at the calculated modus of Charlie’s ilk and your heart goes out to Annie. “We didn’t get raped. I did! Please stop reminding me of it every single time!" rails Annie against her father. Though still rough in places, Liana Liberato plays her character’s precious vulnerability to the hilt. You want to smother her in comfort and slap sense into her at the same time. Trust is a visceral, dark drama that hammers home the definition of “victim" in the 21st century sense. The theme may be old hat but it hits you where you live at the same. At the very least, it’s a strong case for those parental controls or thinking twice about a laptop for your teen’s birthday. - YA, GMA News Trust opens Sept 7 exclusively at Ayala Mall Cinemas. Photos courtesy of MILLENNIUM FILMS