Movie Review: CAM (2018)

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A superb techno-thriller that depicts the exploits of a cam-girl as she seeks ever more popularity, with plenty of musings on the types of personalities you come into contact with as an online stripper, and the very nature of online personalities in general.

Madeline Brewer plays Alice, a lovely, intelligent young woman who makes her money as a cam-girl, and has done so well for herself that she's able to put down a payment on her own house. Her teenage brother knows about her work, but her mom does not, and so like so many of us, there's another version of her that exists primarily online; a manufactured persona named Lola_Lola. Alice wants Lola to be one of the best, and she's shooting to eventually break the top-10 on the cam-hosting site she uses, and if she can manage that, she says that she'll tell her mother what she actually does for a living.

In order to raise her profile further, Alice has taken to simulating suicides on some of her cam-shows, and soon, her channel gathers a reputation for being a place where outrageous-shit goes down. To Alice, its all an act, even on the occasions when she meets up in real life with some of her admirers. She's smart and savvy, making sure to always meet in public places that she knows well, so that she has maximum control over the situation.

One night, Alice manages to crack the top 50, a moment that fills her with excitement, but then, her audience is drawn away by a competing cam-girl named Princess_X, and her rank falls below 50 once again. Soon, Alice finds that "Lola" is streaming live, even though she herself is not putting on a show. She then finds herself locked out of her account, and customer service proves to be unhelpful. She creates another account to interact with Lola in the show's chat, and when Lola responds, Alice discovers that it can't possibly be a rebroadcast of an old show or some other odd glitch, and that Lola has now become Alice's online doppelganger.

Disturbed and angry, Alice decides to do what it takes to get to the bottom of what is going on, and that's when things truly go beyond the pale.

CAM is a wild ride of a film to be sure, and a ride worth taking. Its directed by first-timer Daniel Goldhaber, and written by first-timer Isa Mazzei, who used her own experiences as a former cam-girl to grant the story its welcome verisimilitude, its a film that not only examines some aspects of the life of a cam-girl, but also has broader messages to share about the facades we create for our online personas and how they can seem to take on lives of their own, gobbling up large portions of our real lives in the process.

CAM is as sexually charged, and voyeuristic, and flips the usual identity-thriller sub-genre on its head by telling the story of the woman who is being watched, instead of a story from one of the men doing the watching. Its refreshing and definitely somewhat disturbing as it examines its metaphors for identity-theft and the sense of self. The direction and cinematography are excellent, drawing clear lines of demarcation between everyday life, and the tacky, seductive glitz of its online world. The dialogue is excellent, and very naturalistic, something which too-often eludes far more expensive films by far more experienced writers and directors.

Its also refreshing in the way that it depicts sex-work as exactly that: work, a job like any other with its own benefits and downsides, and how it often boils down to what we call the daily grind. You won't find any stigmatizing of sex-work in CAM, but its heady, modern themes should tweak the uncertainties of many a viewer when it comes to online interaction.

CAM is an excellent film. Brewer is magnetic as Alice/Lola, and is truly able to display her talents as an actor. The pacing is lively, and it always intrigues. It boasts an excellent, creepy musical-score, and the content itself is both timely and unsettling. 

4.5 stars! ****1/2

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