'We Live in Public' follows an online mogul's rise and fall

In the opening moments of Ondi Timoner's troubling documentary "We Live in Public," Josh Harris is introduced as "the greatest Internet pioneer you've never heard of."

Timoner quickly backs up this assertion with a fascinating look back at the decades during which Harris, a geeky and rather coldblooded Internet mogul, acquired and then lost millions of dollars.

Validated by "60 Minutes," he became the Andy Warhol of the computer age, presiding over a would-be utopia that failed. The participants, whose most intimate moments were recorded, admit in interviews that they quickly lost any sense of self and succumbed to fascistic impulses. Y2K provided the opportunity for a near-total wipeout.

Still, while Harris was running out of cash, he found the love of his life, a surprisingly levelheaded young woman named Tanya who seemed to share his passion. But the cameras were still rolling on (literally) everything they did, and soon they found themselves behaving like drama queens for an unseen audience.

"We Live in Public" is the kind of nonfiction film that seems to have been conceived to prove that truth is stranger than almost any fiction (it won the Grand Jury Prize for docs at this year's Sundance Film Festival), though the shape of the narrative eventually suggests a contemporary version of "Citizen Kane."

There's even a kind of Rosebud mystery, hinted at in early scenes touching on Harris' relationship with his mother, who sent the boy off to establish a more satisfying relationship with his television set. He quickly became addicted to "Gilligan's Island," a show that eventually provided him with a more enticing map of the world than the one his family offered.

John Hartl: johnhartl@yahoo.com