This movie is based on a true story of a teen murdering a preteen. It's depressing, horrid, terrifying and terrific. I hope the director has more up his sleeve that are even half this good.
The film starts out with introducing us to seemingly random teens, doing things that teens do that make adults scratch their heads in wonder. We have a pair of girls who are almost constantly filming themselves while doing everything. Being bored, touching an electric fence with their little brother, arguing, and preening. And wrist cutting. Yes, these girls are so randomly bored that it seems even that the most painful things that they do to themselves have no effect on them, except to record it to their camera and social media accounts.
The next teen we're introduced to is bulimic, and we find this out in a most disgusting way. She has a father who, it is implied, likes to rape his daughter, and she is stuck in the situation as we learn that her mother has long since left the relationship,probably due to her husbands disgusting lifestyle.
Lastly we meet a girl who dreams of being a singer. She is very talented, and is already quite a good painter. She is friends with a young girl probably half her age, and we see them hanging out together playing, and eating at a restaurant. The teen though, seems to have a questionable father too. We feel that she is trapped in her existence as well, hoping for something better to come along.
These story-lines remain separate through the first hour of the movie, almost telling a non-linear story. But slowly, very slowly, you start to realize that all of these teens have something in common, and even though you have a clue of what it might be, you've given in to your emotional investment, and you're hoping that you might be wrong about the conclusion of the film that you haven't even seen yet. The hints are slow in coming, and you are horrified and infuriated at the same time. You know the end of the story, but you want to know the how's and the why's.
The music in the film is amazing, and pulls the narrative along as there are some long stretches without dialog. There are no character names in the film, but you actually don't need any. You start remembering them by their traits, and that's all you need to move the story forward. The director gets great performances from all of his cast, and at some points you feel that the actors are actually doing the film themselves. There are some great styles of filming as well. We get some black and white, still shots, full frame and a webcam look.
This movie describes teen angst and boredom very well. I can remember some of the feelings myself. And what I can't remember, I have a teen of my own that I can identify some of the characters actions with. The long weekend and summer days with nothing at all to do. The identity crisis, and most of all, the peer pressure. The wanting to fit in so bad, that you're willing to do just about anything for anyone to prove it. The director masters all of these emotions in the film, and pulls the viewer into caring for most of these characters even though we have an idea that they are going to do something terrible.
By far the most saddening and horrifying thing about the film, and the director nails it head on, is how every hope and dream you've had up to this point in your life, every bad situation you're hoping to get out of, and every piece of your soul that you hope to gain back with adulthood, can be shattered and lost forever in one split second act. A decision you'll never come back or recover from. Ever.
This film will haunt you. Find it.
