‘Profile’ Review: Timur Bekmambetov’s Immersive Thriller About a Journalist Catfishing Isis — Berlinale 2018

The best and most harrowing addition to the quickly growing sub-genre of movies that take place entirely within the space of a computer screen, Timur Bekmambetov’s “Profile” brings a new and much-needed dimension to its conceit by using it in the service of a semi-realistic story.

That’s uncharted territory for a type of filmmaking which — like so many cinematic innovations before it — was born out of shlock.

Asinine early attempts like Nacho Vigalando’s “Open Windows” suggested that a degree of absurdity was required to justify the aesthetic, while “Unfriended” (which Bekmambetov produced) was only willing to trace the connection between digital relationships and real-world consequences to a certain point; what began as a cautionary tale about online bullying ended as a supernatural horror story about a Skype-loving demon.“Profile” is different.

While nobody is ever going to confuse the movie for a documentary — making for at

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