A queer, time-travelling sci-fi film is heading to cinemas in the UK after earning positive reviews. Distributed by LGBTQ+-specialised Peccadillo Pictures, movie Chatlines looks back at the Chatroulette style websites to tell an impossible love story.
Co-directed by star Lloyd Eyre-Morgan and Neil Ely, Chatlines will struck a chord if you’re a Millennial who grew up on MSN and chatted away into the night with their crush back in the early 2000s. More than two decades later, the film’s 30-something protagonist Jordan (Morgan), who’s been diagnosed with terminal cancer, seeks the same thrill, hoping for a casual connection at best.
When Jordan meets Danny (Nico Mirallegro), a sarcastic guy who’s also terminally ill, the two hit it off right away. But cancer isn’t the primary issue here — Nico swears it’s still 2005, which makes it virtually impossible for him and Jordan to meet up IRL.
Courtesy of Peccadillo Pictures
Except Chatlines skirts the temporal dissonance with a time-travelling premise, as the trailer sees Danny materialising in Jordan’s room as the bond between the two men grows.
Also starring Happy Valley’s Siobhan Finneran as Jordan’s mum as well as Laura Aikman and Faye McKeever, the film is set to be released in the UK next year, with an exact release date to be confirmed (via Deadline).
Adam Spencer Young
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The film promises to be a crowdpleaser after winning the Audience Favourite Award at the Manchester Film Festival in March.
Branded “a wickedly funny and disarmingly heartfelt slice of queer sci-fi” with a “superb” Finneran in Movie Marker’s five-star review, Chatlines will next screen at this year’s Manchester Scene Festival, where it’s set to close a week of screenings, panels and events to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community.
Adam Spencer Young
The film marks the second collaboration for directors Ely and Morgan, who previously teamed up on romantic dramedy Departures, starring Morgan as Benji, a man falling for fellow passenger Jake (David Tag) at the airport, with their whirlwind romance revealing a complex power dynamic at play.
Chatlines will be released in UK cinemas next year.
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Reporter, Digital Spy
Stefania is a freelance writer specialising in TV and movies. After graduating from City University, London, she covered LGBTQ+ news and pursued a career in entertainment journalism, with her work appearing in outlets including Little White Lies, The Skinny, Radio Times and Digital Spy.
Her beats are horror films and period dramas, especially if fronted by queer women. She can argue why Scream is the best slasher in four languages (and a half).