The Heart Machine (2014)
Cast: John Gallagher Jr., Kate Lyn Sheil, David Call
Director: Zachary Wigon
Country: USA
Genre: Drama | Thriller
Editor’s Notes: The Heart Machine opens in limited release today, October 24th.
Connecting with someone online is a strange modern phenomenon as there’s an odd combination of deep intimacy and detachment. Writer/director Zachary Wigon explores both the intimacy and detachment of online relationships in The Heart Machine, his feature debut that premiered in the Narrative Feature Competition at SXSW 2014. Cody (John Gallagher Jr.) and Virginia (Kate Lyn Sheil) are two New Yorkers who meet online and begin dating. She’s living in Berlin for the next six months so they’re relegated to an online romantic relationship until she comes back to Manhattan. They’ve never met in person but they spend what seems like hours each day on Skype hanging out.
Connecting with someone online is a strange modern phenomenon as there’s an odd combination of deep intimacy and detachment.
Wigon films these scenes cutting back and forth between Cody and Virginia’s perspectives, often looking at the screen they’re seeing rather than an “actual” view. The experience looks and feels similar to actual Skyping, although those calls would likely be crashing much more frequently as anyone who uses Skype can attest. This more smooth experience allows the viewer to feel the stability of Cody and Virginia’s relationship, as things seem quite healthy between them despite the distance. The one exception occurs near the beginning of the film in one of their first conversations on-screen. An ambulance siren blares from Virginia’s apartment. Cody is puzzled by the siren because it sounds American. He doesn’t show this reaction to Virginia, and instead confirms the suspicion by finding a YouTube clip of a German siren which is distinctly, unmistakably different from an American siren. Has she been lying to him? Does he really know her at all? Can you ever trust someone who you only know online?
These questions are among the many Cody obsesses over for the duration of the film. He plays detective, trying to find her in New York. Given the siren, and other moments, it seems almost certain that she is lying to him but he doesn’t know for sure. His obsession with uncovering the truth leads him to harmless but strange acts like stalking and questioning a coffee shop barista for information, and going home with a relative stranger to covertly examine her phone and laptop for clues. Cody is driven absolutely crazy by the doubt that Virginia might be living nearby. He thinks she’s living in what is supposedly her “previous” neighborhood on the lower East Side, which is far enough from his Brooklyn apartment to maintain anonymity for the six months of online romance.
While the question of trust is interesting, The Heart Machine has two much more unusual and completely apt considerations of the Internet age.
While the question of trust is interesting, The Heart Machine has two much more unusual and completely apt considerations of the Internet age. First, is its exploration of Internet-based obsessiveness, coming from the eternal nature of modern conversations. Now everything can be captured or recorded, especially conversations online. Cody has screenshots and videos that he examines and re-examines throughout the film, especially one moment in which he replays a video clip again and again. Most people who grew up with the Internet have been crippled by this obsessive doubt and run through a photo or video over and over again. Wigon is using a more traditional narrative device of withholding information, first from audience and then from Cody, which gives doubt-driven insanity an effective narrative framework. His literal views of these moments are organic, not overstated or unnecessarily heightened.
The second consideration is a compartmentalization of needs that comes from the fragmented way the Internet allows people to spread their needs and desires. In the past traditional roles of friends, family, and romantic partners created a stable, consistent way for people to disperse their emotional and physical needs. Now with the Internet, people can fill those needs in new ways. This discussion has already occurred to a certain point but what’s particularly intriguing about The Heart Machine’s manifestation of this, is how it impacts those core relationships. People don’t necessarily need the physical intimacy of romantic relationships because those needs, or others, can be fulfilled in different unique ways. A more specific discussion of this aspect of the film is unfortunately limited by spoilers.
While ambiguities feel too “of” independent American cinema at times, The Heart Machine is a solid entry in the cinematic exploration of the Internet’s impact on modern life.
While ambiguities feel too “of” independent American cinema at times, The Heart Machine is a solid entry in the cinematic exploration of the Internet’s impact on modern life.
