Trailer for On_Line.
Set in Manhattan’s cybersex industry, On_Line at first appears to be about people getting off without ever touching (if you’ve never done it you’ll learn, from one explosively directed sequence, precisely how such a thing might happen). But the film, directed by Jed Weintrob – a digital junkie from the early days of interactive entertainment – has a lot more on its mind than just sex. John Roth runs a live erotic Website called Intercon-X. Though profitable, the site, which he owns with his roommate Moe, keeps John at home in a state of perpetual frustration. We get the sense that John likes living this way: he works between shots of peppermint schnapps and webcam diary entries in which he pines for his ex-fiancée. Built around revealing and often funny streaming video sessions with net-izens like “man-on-man” host Al Fleming, Internet fantasy girl Jordan Nash, self-destructive artist Moira Ingalls and Ohio innocent Ed Simone, On_Line uses a groundbreaking mix of new technology and romantic narrative to tell a classic New York story.