Love in the Metaverse: This Documentary Impresses the Critics
Update July 13, 2022:
HBO has secured the rights to "We Met in Virtual Reality" and will stream the documentary for the first time on July 27 via HBO Max. A new trailer shows what you can expect.
Article dated February 10, 2022:
"We Met in Virtual Reality" is a documentary shot entirely in VRChat. It takes an intimate look at love and friendship in the Metaverse.
The film follows a group of people who live a second, digital life on the popular social VR platform. It focuses on two couples who met in virtual reality, get closer there and prepare for a physical encounter, as well as Jenny, an American Sign Language teacher who wants to create a place for deaf people in VRChat.
The documentary explores themes of self-expression, identity, attraction, grief, and mental health in a time when the Metaverse is still in its infancy, a strange niche and haven for social misfits.
Love and community in times of pandemic
We Met in Virtual Reality premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January. The documentary was shot by young British filmmaker Joe Hunting, who has been filming in VR since 2018 and says he spent most of Pandemic in virtual reality.
"I captured stories that shed light on how we can connect, express and find community online in a time when our physical lives were much more limited," the documentary maker said at the film's launch.
We Met in Virtual Reality: Critics full of praise
The VR documentary has been well received by film critics: We Met in Virtual Reality currently holds a rating of 93 percent on Rottentomatoes.
Robert Daniels of RogerEbert.com writes of the VR doc, "Joe Hunting’s inventive and touching vérité documentary enters the social VR universe to witness the ways the technology has brought comfort, inclusiveness, and love in an era of discomfort."
Thrillist's Esther Zuckerman praises the range of digital spaces shown and the honesty of the human portraits.
"Joe Hunting has made a tender, affecting documentary about love, friendship, and people finding a place where they can be themselves. It just happens that those people are digitally-generated aliens, horned sex demons and other outré creations (even Kermit the Frog)," writes Screen International's Jonathan Romney.
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