Goliath96 (2018)

The opening images of a happy family on a beach, with their young son flying a large red kite with his father, abruptly give way to the present, years later: On that vacation, the father left the family without saying goodbye, and mother Kristin and son David drove back to Hamburg alone. David, now 21, has left his room only at night for the past two years and refuses all contact with the outside world, including his mother. When she tries to communicate with him through the door, he does not respond. If they happen to meet in the hallway, he panics, rushes into his room, and locks the door. At the beginning of the film, Kristin loses her job as a bank clerk and becomes unemployed. When Kristin runs into Fiona, one of David’s former classmates, and learns from her that David is active in an online community about kite-making, she sees a way to make contact with him. She finds out his username on the forum, “Goliath96,” signs up herself as “Cinderella97,” and initially asks him technical questions in chat, then increasingly personal ones. They start flirting, and David quickly falls in love with the supposed student. One evening, he opens up and honestly tells “Cinderella97” about his situation: that everything is too much for him and how badly he misses having someone he can talk to about it all. His mother is not interested in him; “Cinderella97” is the only one who listens to him. He would like to meet her. Realizing that she has put herself in a situation she cannot untangle, Kristin persuades Fiona to meet David as “Cinderella97.” David does set out for the meeting place, but soon has a panic attack and returns to the safety of his room. He sends a message saying he will come later, but as he sends it, he hears the incoming-message alert from Kristin’s bedroom and discovers the deception. Beside himself with rage, he smashes all the furniture. Then he is seen standing on a road bridge, apparently ready to throw himself to his death. Kristin searches for him all evening and spends the night on a bench at the agreed meeting place. When she wakes in the morning, David is standing silently in front of her; they look at each other.