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Filmmaker Antonio Campos takes a sidelong glance at consumer culture in this disturbing tale of a girl who sells her virginity on eBay. Shot in two halves, Buy It Now retells the same story in different styles. The first section is a Blair Witch-style faux-documentary, complete with doomy interstitials and fuzzy footage. The second takes a more conventionally dramatic approach. Chelsea Logan is totally convincing as a troubled teen struggling to fit into a vapid world.

Shot on digital video and looking like it was made on a budget of five bucks and change, Buy It Now relies on its bizarro subject matter to hold your interest. Fortunately, the online sex sale and its tragic consequences make for queasily compelling viewing. Egged on by her best friend (Stacy Jordan), teenager Chelsea offers herself for auction to the highest bidder. The logic behind this idea, she says, is to "get it over with" and make some pocket money at the same time - money that she plans to spend on handbags and designer jeans. Unsurprisingly, she finds a willing bidder, and the assignation duly takes place in an anonymous hotel room. Campos stops short of showing anything graphic, but it's nonetheless an upsetting scene in both versions of the story.

"PUNCHES WELL ABOVE ITS WEIGHT"

Buy It Now is a short, nasty film that effectively diagnoses the emotional vaccuum lurking in a teenaged heart. The two film approach is perhaps a little self-consciously clever - at times you feel as if you are watching a film school final exam piece. A little more insight into Chelsea's isolation would have helped too, but at a mere 62 minutes, Campos' debut film still punches far above its weight

Buy It Now is out in the UK on 20th July 2007.