The Heart Machine

Online dating leads to romance and suspicion in Zachary Wigon's intriguing but slender thriller. Cody (John Gallagher Jr.) has a steady girlfriend named Virginia (Kate Lyn Shiel), but the two have never met in person. The pair linked up via Skype, but since Virginia is studying for six months in Berlin, they must be content with nightly sessions on their laptops, during which they discuss their day and even cook dinner in tandem. But Cody begins to wonder whether Virginia is in Europe at all, as he investigates ambient sounds from their Skype conversations to test the theory that's she's actually in New York and has been toying with him since the beginning. Eventually, he uses social media sites to track down people who might know her. Meanwhile, Wigon shows Virginia going about her job at a New York publishing firm, but only gradually reveals whether those scenes are contemporaneous or flashbacks. Depending on how things turn out, the question will be whether Cody can forgive Virginia for deceiving him, or whether Virginia can overlook the fact that he doubted her. Either way, the stakes of The Heart Machine aren't terribly high—at most a tenuous romance won't survive—but Wigon does add some nice twists to the tale, and the lead performances are both good. A strong optional purchase. (F. Swietek)