THOMAS EST AMOUREUX
THOMAS IN LOVE
2000

August 7, 2001
Cinemateque at the Towne

In the future, an agoraphobe has all human interaction through a computer screen.

-->Directed.....Pierre-Paul Renders
-->Thomas Thomas.....Benoit Verhaert
-->Eva.....Aylin Yay
-->Melodie.....Magali Pinglaut

Like nothing we've seen before. We never see the lead actor's face. We watch the whole film from his POV. When someone calls him on the computer phone, we see their face, but never his. For eight years, Thomas Thomas has been housebound. This film takes place some time in the future. He has his every need taken care of by delivery or through the computer. All except for love. He finds himself bored with his favorite cybersex game and looks to make a more human connection, believing however that he will never again be in the same room as another person.

Creative camera work, digital film, animation all over, tatoos on everyone. It definitely sets a unique time and place. Got much better as it went on. It started with a sexual encounter with an animation partner, but soon got deeply into the isolation that everyone feels and how the computer, among other devices, makes us more and more isolated. His agoraphobia may be a natural progression of human evolution after years of e-mail and telephone 'conections'. Very well done.