Rising star Julia Fox made her breakout turn in 2019 in the Safdie Brothers’ “Uncut Gems” as Howie Ratner’s (Adam Sandler) loyal girlfriend. But she’s thankfully not about to go mainstream and appears to be sticking to her New York City art scene roots. Next up, she stars as a femme fatale in Ben Hozie’s noir-inspired psychosexual, urban thriller “PVT Chat.” In this New York-set indie, Fox is a leather-clad cam girl opposite Peter Vack as an online blackjack and her sub client, whom she meets during web calls. Watch the trailer, exclusive to IndieWire, for the film below.
In “PVT Chat,” Jack (Vack) is a lonely internet gambler who becomes fixated on Scarlet (Fox). He discovers her unrealized talent as a painter and begins to fall hard, but his obsession reaches a boiling point when fantasy materializes in reality and Jack sees Scarlet on a rainy street in NYC Chinatown. While Scarlet is clearly hiding her whole truth, milking Jack’s wallet in the process, she also seems to develop genuine feelings for him. Is their connection real, or is he being taken for a ride? Writer-director Hozie’s film, which world-premiered at Fantasia International Film Festival last year, also stars indie faves Keith Poulson, Buddy Duress, Kevin Moccia, and David J. White.
In addition to “PVT Chat,” Hozie previously directed 2014’s “Annunciation,” a similarly erotic art film, as well as 2017’s “The Lion’s Den,” about a group of Staten Island radicals who kidnap a CEO.
According to IndieWire’s David Ehrlich, “[The film] sounds tawdry — and it never demures — but Hozie is genuinely interested in the twisted fabric of connection in the digital age; in how sex has been too commodified to retain its value, allowing true intimacy to become the holy grail. Flirting with inspirations as far-flung as “Amélie,” “Eyes Wide Shut,” and even some of the Safdie brothers’ dingy swagger (Buddy Duress does his thing in a supporting role), ‘PVT Chat’ explores what people are afraid of in a world where everything is exposed.”
Dark Star Pictures will release the film in available theaters on February 5, 2021, followed by a VOD and Digital HD release on February 9, 2021.
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