Trust (15) | Close-Up Film Review

Dir. David Schwimmer, USA, 2010, Dur. 106 mins

Cast: Clive Owen, Catherine Keener, Liana Liberato

Review by Carlie Newman

It is always good to find a well-directed film that tells an interesting story with a great cast of actors and Trust scores on all three counts. As ever Clive Owen comes across strongly as Will Cameron, father of three children, who finds that his daughter Annie, just 14, has become involved with a sexual predator. While Lynn (Keener) and her husband Will are involved in preparing their son Peter (Spencer Curnutt) for college, Annie (newcomer, Liana Libarato) has been chatting to her new friend Charlie (Chris Henry Coffey) over the internet. She believes him to be 16 but when they reach the stage of swapping photos, he confesses to being first 20 and then 25.

With her parents settling Peter into his new college, she arranges to meet Charlie in the shopping mall in the part of Chicago where she lives. She is amazed and a little frightened to find that he is actually a grown man of perhaps 35. He re-assures her and says that they share something special as they have confessed to their intimate thoughts online. Flattered by his compliments, she accompanies him back to his hotel room, where he gets her to model the red underwear set he has brought for her and then seduces her into having sex with him. After she tells her best friend about ?having sex? with an older man, she finds her friend alerting the Head and then the police. She insists that Charlie really loves her but when pushed by her parents, attempts unsuccessfully to trap him. Her father is enraged at the harm done to his daughter coupled with her lies over the age of the boyfriend, and the nature of their online chat.

All this is very well portrayed by young Libarato, who displays a god mix of teenage surliness, obstinacy and innocence. While she shines under the attentions of Charlie, she also shows her innocence in complying with his requests, believing him when he tells her they are soul mates. Catherine Keener gives another fine performance in a character part and here she is most believable as a mother coming to terms with the dreadful act committed against her daughter. Owen shows rage at the rape of his beloved child and demonstrates how his anger drives him to commit all kinds of illegal acts in an attempt to discover the identity of the predator.

Where director Schwimmer and his scriptwriters somewhat overdo the irony is in making Dad?s job that of an advertising executive in charge of youth campaigns, which use young models as sexual teases for the clothes. Also less successful are the parts which deal with Will?s fantasies. I was concerned that the film might descend into that of a vigilante action movie ? luckily this part is just a fantasy. It would also have been good to see the Counsellor (played by Viola Davis) deal with the role that grooming has played in the seduction of the young girl. Although harrowing this is a film that should be seen by all young teenagers AND their parents.

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Source: http://www.close-upfilm.com/2011/07/trust-15-close-up-film-review/

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