Talhotblond (2009)

Talhotblond is an MSNBC documentary about a gripping must-see train wreck -- and then the narrative reveals a powerful twist that drives its shocking moral implications home even harder. We all know that "on the Internet, you can be anyone." But is it honest? Is it moral? In an online game, no problem -- but where Internet flirting, cheating, and seduction come into play, the human cost can be devastating, as this tale describes. Talhotblond is the true story of an Internet "love triangle" gone sour -- as it was fated to do from the start, given the character flaws of the first two participants -- resulting in the death of a decent and honest young man who became the victim of two functional sociopaths who swathed themselves in lies and self-delusion. Most of this disarmingly told yet chilling story -- mature audiences only -- is expressed in the words of Thomas (marinesniper), the 46-year-old married father of two who became infatuated and began having chat sex with Jessie (talhotblond), a lithe-bodied 18-year-old girl just across the state line, first in the persona of someone her age and later as himself. (She initiated contact but it hardly matters once both became addicted to the anticipation and the thrill of their forbidden attraction.) Thomas is now serving a 20-year prison sentence for the execution-style murder of Brian, an 18-year-old co-worker who was caught up in Talhotblond's web, first out of spiteful revenge and then her sickeningly dysfunctional manipulation. Talhotblond refused to be interviewed or even captured on camera for this film but her words and demeanor are well-documented through rolling chat transcripts that let us peer into the reams of emails these two shared and the hundreds of photos she shared with Thomas and a number of other men for which she was trolling. Talhotblond is a lot like Fatal Attraction or the Dateline child-sex sting operations and it won Best Documentary at the Seattle International Film Festival. It's a real-life object lesson that (unfortunately) the Internet harbors some real sickos -- and that if someone appears to be hotter than one could imagine, he or she is probably the polar opposite of their self-aggrandized fantasy in real life. 4 stars. (6-10-10 posted 2-2-11)