This film was so touching, the care that Joe Hunting had for his subjects is so tangible. This film could of easily portrayed this world as a strange, scary place full of creeps. But instead it lingers on the beauty, love, and tenderness of the space. Each of the subjects speak with so much maturity, openness, and respect. I walked away from the film feeling immersed in a new world, full of amazing new friends.

I can understand why this film may of not landed with some, but I personally felt inspired and uplifted by this documentary. It is definitely on the slow side at times, and does not have a large, overarching story that most films follow. But that was what the film is about, its about just being with these people, in this time, learning about their lives when all of us were struggling IRL.

I would give this a watch, for sure, just keep an open mind.

As a film, it doesn't really work. I found myself wondering what the underlying message the filmmaker was trying to send, but ultimately it came across to me as a clip show of a few people playing in a VR world. Much like watching someone else play a videogame, I found my interest waning about halfway through, so maybe there was a grand conclusion I missed; it just wasn't compelling enough to grab my interest.

Credit where credit is due, though. It was a creative use of time during the height of the pandemic.

As "We Met In Virtual Reality" (2022 release; 91 min) opens, the movie screen informs us that "The journey began in December, 2020." We watch people in a bar, then at a Community Meeting of some sort. We meet Jenny, who is teaching in a most deaf community. Ray, deaf herself, also teaches there. At this point we are 10 min into the movie.

Couple of comments: this movie is the debut of writer-director Joe Hurting. Here he gives us a glimpse into the virtual world where people, using avatars, interact with other people (also using avatars of course). What really threw me for a loop is that this is supposedly a documentary but it never left like a documentary to me. Instead it feels like a very scripted and highly stylistic look at today's dating scene as it plays out on-line and in other virtual settings. I must give Hurting props for the unusual visuals that he brings this in. But also strangely off-putting. When a male avatar asks a female avatar: "will you marry me in VRChat?" and she says "yes", it felt a little weird for me. Bottom line: I was quite confused by this movie experience and didn't know what all to make of it, to be honest.

"We Met in Virtual Reality" premiered at this year's Sundance to positive buzz, and the movie is currently rated 96% Certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie started streaming on HBO Max last week and I couldn't wait to check it out. Alas, it was not the movie that I expected, and in fact I just felt confused. Regardless, if you are interested in what life is like in virtual reality, I'd encourage you to check it out, and draw your own conclusion.