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Spree (2020)
5 Minutes Popularity
Popularity has been a disputed matter for years. Technically, it is within a grasp of everyone. Ususally attainable by creativity, especially in the Internet era, but sometimes acquired by questionable tactics. Many people making money on the Internet popularity acheived their status by finding and polishing their own way. However, among those creative people there have always been those willing to get their 5 minutes fame by making the cntent based on the shock value. They are one side of the problem. The other are those willing to watch them.
Kurtis is a driver of Spree, an Internet service being the film version of Uber. A young man in his early twenties, Kurtis is a person, who despite some peculiarities doesn't seem to be too different from the society of people of varying likeability range. Yet, none of his passengers expects that Kurtis is willing to do anything to become popular. Kurtis starts his engine without the intention to deliver his passengers to their destination...
From the filmmaking point of view, Spree is as interesting as the whole spectacle is presented through the lens of web cameras. This is the point of view that is never left. This method brings a dose of interactivity to the movie. Sometimes the director switches the perspectives to show various points of view in one shot. Especially in those scenes, the editing gives the apropriate tension to the movie. All the actors give convincing performances. Sasheer Zamata shines as an experienced Internet comedian, just like the actors appearing in the episodic roles, like Mischa Barton and David Arquette. However, it goes without any dispute that Joe Kerry is the real star of the movie, by making the character of Kurtis three-dimentional. His performance allows the audience to sympathize to some extent with the character, despite his psychopatic tendencies.
The movie doesn't treat itself as an excuse to be a spectacle of blood and guts. True, Kurtis' kills are creative (so to speak), but Spree seems not to have the intention to become an exploitation movie. However, where the movie is lacking is in its black humour. There are some traits of it, especially in the comments appearing constantly on the screen (the degree of indifference to the violence happening in front of the users/audience, their hunger for more "spectacular" actions) and the twist ending, but still one has got the sense that there could have been more of it. The other confusing thing is that the Instagram spoof in the film has no moderation. I can't imagine that Kurtis' activity would take as much time in real life as it does in the movie.
Still, Spree presents an interesting concept, rarely present on the big screen and plays with the audience expectations in an effective manner with the tension never going down. It's a small movie worth to watch. Hopefully, we will see more works of this director on the big screen soon.
Where Is Anne Frank (2021)
Another Intriguing Work of Art From Ari Folman
In 2008, director Ari Forman gave us Waltz With Bashir, an emotional attempt to settle accounts with his own past, when as a teenage soldier he participated in the most violent event of the war between Palestine and Israel. 13 years later, the director's new project hits the theatres, this time focusing on Anne Frank and the diary she wrote while hiding from the Nazis. With this new film, Ari Forman proves that even the animation aiming at families may be as powerful as other classic representatives of the genre.
The story divides into two layers: the first one focuses on Anne Frank, giving the audience the account of the uncertainty and tragedies her and her family went through, with the deportation to the death camp as its culmination.
The second layer concerns Anne's imaginary friend Kitty. As a result of unexplained phenomenon, Kitty awakens from the diary. Not knowing what happened to Anne, she tries to find her by all cost.
Ari Folman seems to be an admirer of animation. He knows how to use the medium so that his movies work in the emotional sphere. Despite some graphic scenes, Waltz With Bashir had many sequences that supplied the story with more poetical scent. Where Is Anne Frank works to some extent in a similar way. However, we never see violence directly. It's toned down, replaced by the imagery resembling the unforgettable animated sequence from Alan Parker's The Wall. When it comes to the characters themselves, not only do they have eye-candy designes, but also their animation is detailed and fluent.
However, the filmmakers never forget during the whole runtime that presentation is just a medium and it's the characters that engage the audience into the story. Even though there is a whole variety of characters in the movie, each of them is properly developed. I especially liked Kitty, as her determination in the investigation makes the story truly engaging and this is the part, where the true message of the story shines out. As the movie goes on, Folman attempts to coin the message about fighting with racial prejudice both in terms of Jews during World War II and the refugees in modern times. Though initially I had problems with seeing the consistency, the director manages to acheive it at the end of the movie.
All sorts of anti-prejudice media, from books to movies, will always be of great importance.
Where Is Anne Frank may be a good subject for conversation between children and their parents. Both groups may take an important lesson of tolerance out of it. In modern times, this is why such stories are of great value.
Let me finish by quoting the dialogue I remembered from the movie the most.
"Anne: Why do people hate us?
Kitty: Because they always need some scapegoat."