Social media can really be a black-hole. After a long working
day we may just think of spending few minutes on Instagram or Facebook before
going to sleep, but soon the mindless scrolling mania kicks in. As we scroll and
scroll and scroll to react at this ‘cool’ life of few unknown social media
‘friends’, it feels like we are trapped in a stupid, ugly cocoon. And before
the elusive sleep eventually embraces us, we may think that achieving those things
seen in the little square screens may dispel our frustration and loneliness.
The casual stroll across the digital realm becomes a grim exercise in self-loathing. We seek respite from the sameness by pursuing after the fakeness. But
is it a picture-perfect paradise for the allegedly famous people of social media
with thousands of friends & followers? They may also contemplate the utter emptiness
of obsessing with the mere aesthetic values of life; or caught in the habit of
consuming everything but savoring nothing. Showcasing ourselves through
self-deceiving images and the perpetual desire to be more visible have
drastically changed the way we live our lives and the way we talk to people in
real-time. Matt Spicer’s Ingrid Thorburn’s dark comedy of manners Ingrid Goes
West (2017) depicts how far a sad, lonely individual goes to spice up the
aesthetic beauty of her life, only to be gradually deluged by the fakery and
lies. It’s not exactly a profound treatise on this culture of alienation and
frustration, but it smartly addresses how the fixation for false narratives or false
identity arises deep within us and not simply the effects of technology.
Following the trajectory of an addiction narrative, the film
opens with Ingrid (brilliant deadpan performer Aubrey Plaza), a 20-something
woman her face smeared with tears, deliriously scrolling down the photos of a
wedding she wasn’t invited to. Later, she crashes into the wedding party and
pepper sprays the bride for not inviting her. Ingrid saw the bride as a best
friend who commented on one of her Instagram post. The truth is they
barely know each other. After spending few weeks at the mental treatment
center, she returns to her home, only to find that the absurd act of violence
had made her an outcast among the local Instagrammers. It’s early hinted that
Ingrid’s addiction is probably an outcome of mental health issues that rose
after the death of her beloved mother. She mistakes a passing comment as the
deep human connection. One night, she finds a new famous, self-advertised
life-style icon in Instagram to obsess upon. The profile of Taylor Sloane
(Elizabeth Olsen), a young gorgeous blonde woman, is riddled with sun-drenched
pictures of beaches, unending supply of super-cool parties and viral hashtags. When
Taylor casually replies to Ingrid’s comment on her Instagram pic, Ingrid’s destiny
becomes clear. Uncontrolled by responsibilities, she takes $60,000 – money she
inherited from her mother – and moves to Venice Beach, California, closer to
Taylor’s neighborhood.
Ingrid’s friendly landlord Dan Pinto (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) is
a self-confessed Batman fan and aspires to write spec scripts for Batman movies.
After settling in, she decides to stalk Taylor and sample few of the things she
suggests in her innocuous social media posts. To win Taylor’s attention, Ingrid
steals her dog Rothko and returns it next day to glean gratefulness and
immediately forge a superficial friendship. It works perfectly as Taylor spews
superlative adjectives and hashtag-worthy words at Ingrid. Taylor lives with
her full-time artist husband named Ezra (Wyatt Russell). His attempt at visual
arts has so far only produced embarrassing results. Taylor is the breadwinner of
the family and we can observe the possible friction between them, but for
Ingrid who sees reality through the glow of iPhone screens, they seem like wonderful
couples. Taylor talks of Joan Didion, Ernest Hemingway, and Norman Mailer with
a tinge of cultural snobbery. A week later, Ingrid borrows Dan’s truck since
Taylor wants to pop up to her house at Joshua Tree, California. In the trip, Taylor asks a
gas-station attendant to snap a photo of both of them and she assures Ingrid
that their friendship is special. Furthermore, Taylor confesses about her
secret plans. Ingrid’s gratification derived from being part of Taylor’s inner
circle is soon, however, threatened by the arrival of Nicky (Billy Magnusson) –
Taylor’s obnoxious, cocaine-snorting younger brother. The lie she has spun
comes back at her viciously to doom the fuzzy idea of friendship.
Matt Spicer’s movie owes
a lot to director Alexander Payne’s restrained dramas that scrutinizes the myth
of American Dream and also owes a little to Martin Scorsese’s King of Comedy
(who knows what Rupert Pupkin could have cooked-up if he got to know about
Instagram). Although there’s reference to Single White Female and the later-half
of narrative teases to go Travis Bickle on us, the healthy dose of social
satire (in the vein of Payne’s films) keeps it away from taking those unalterable
violent paths. Spicer and David Branson Smith’s script is full of interesting dry
comic flourishes. The date scene between Dan and Ingrid was particularly well
written which makes us empathize for her even though the character isn’t really likeable.
The casting is strong with Plaza and Olsen transcending certain conceptual flaws through their audacious performances. The character-driven script, however, falters
in the final act as the rash, vapid decisions of Ingrid combined with irksome
characterization of Nicky brings one contrived plot element after another. Part
of the appeal of the movie is because we might have stalked some people on
social media and envied their lives and other stuffs or tried to copycat their
life-style decisions, etc. This relatability factor that binds us with Ingrid
initially breaks up with the onslaught of inorganic plot mechanics (after the one-hour
mark). It replaces outstanding satirical moments of the first-half with smug
and ultimately frustrating narrative devices. The ending, however, is brash, if
not morally depressing: acknowledging her imperfections to the strangers on
Instagram doesn’t cure Ingrid’s addiction; it actually does the opposite. It
seems easy to seek reprieve from the hell-fires of reality, but harder to climb
up the slippery slopes of superficial social media.
Trailer
Ingrid Goes West (98 minutes) is a timely and darkly funny
drama on the culture of comparison and superficiality that plagues online
social networking. It doesn’t censure Instagram or asks us to throw away our
smartphones, but showcases how internet isn’t the happiest place for all. If
the film had retained its satirical bite in the disappointing third act, it
would have been a stand-out American feature of the year.
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