Normally I don't write reviews, but this movie genuinely offended me with how poorly it handled it's own subject matter. The movie ended and the only thing I felt was disgust for the male gaze writing / camera angles, and lack of respect for their "strong female characters".
I feel as though the writers for "Deinfluencer" genuinely believed that this is what a strong female should be, but the irony of the film was so jarring I could never take this movie seriously. She was shamed for causing a 6 year old to commit suicide when it wasn't her fault, and shamed for being "tantalizing" and "arousing" when that is the ONLY power the movie gave her. She had to strip for Charles so he could take photos of her to get 10k likes in two hours. She also discussed taking naked photos with whipped cream over her nipples and abused "lesbian" scenes for views. Great and dandy until you remember these plot points were not written or handled by women. They seem to be an excuse to dress up pretty women and make them do things that appeal to the interests of the director.
Also, If you are going to make a movie about "likes" and "followers" and Influencer culture, at least do research about algorithms and the CORE of the problem of why women feel they need to pose airbrushed photos and half naked pictures online. They give these women ONE strength in this film, and that was "arousing content sells" and punished the female leads for exactly that.
The IRONY of "women are too arousing and its not the REAL them" statement that the film tries to make is COMPLETELY undermined by the amount of upskirt camera shots, use of lesbianism in a purely tantalizing way. As a lesbian this is highly offensive.
But the subject matter... Hot sexy cheerleader is an influencer on social media, and an older man who doesn't understand social media kidnaps her with the intention to make her "more humane" or... something? But nothing he does accomplishes that goal. I am not sure what the director was trying to accomplish here. Any time the girls were nice to each other and trying to save one another, the man in the movie, "Charles" would MURDER one of the new girls! I have seen the "punish the influencer" plot thousands of times, and this movie did nothing to make that narrative make sense.
Our protagonist "Kelly" is kidnapped, traumatized and made to believe she caused the death of TWO innocent women and had her kidney and toe taken. All the while she is put into stressful situations where she has to find out how to get a certain amount of likes in a ridiculously low amount of time. To no fault of her own, the only thing that works is sex. She is abused beyond belief... and at the end she is THANKFUL for it.
In short, the point of the film was mute. Yet another movie about "if you have social media you CAN'T live a NORMAL life." It makes no sense, and I wish these kinds of movies would discuss a healthy balance, or how social media is great for running a business and making your monthly rent by learning the algorithms of each social media platform!
But no... social media is bad and women are bad for posting their bodies. It felt like the movie was trying to empower women while also telling them to not use social media. So in short, it's takeaway message seemed to be that men should be allowed to use violent tactics to control women by shaming their use of social media and how they chose to portray their bodies to the public. I was not a fan.
I feel as though the writers for "Deinfluencer" genuinely believed that this is what a strong female should be, but the irony of the film was so jarring I could never take this movie seriously. She was shamed for causing a 6 year old to commit suicide when it wasn't her fault, and shamed for being "tantalizing" and "arousing" when that is the ONLY power the movie gave her. She had to strip for Charles so he could take photos of her to get 10k likes in two hours. She also discussed taking naked photos with whipped cream over her nipples and abused "lesbian" scenes for views. Great and dandy until you remember these plot points were not written or handled by women. They seem to be an excuse to dress up pretty women and make them do things that appeal to the interests of the director.
Also, If you are going to make a movie about "likes" and "followers" and Influencer culture, at least do research about algorithms and the CORE of the problem of why women feel they need to pose airbrushed photos and half naked pictures online. They give these women ONE strength in this film, and that was "arousing content sells" and punished the female leads for exactly that.
The IRONY of "women are too arousing and its not the REAL them" statement that the film tries to make is COMPLETELY undermined by the amount of upskirt camera shots, use of lesbianism in a purely tantalizing way. As a lesbian this is highly offensive.
But the subject matter... Hot sexy cheerleader is an influencer on social media, and an older man who doesn't understand social media kidnaps her with the intention to make her "more humane" or... something? But nothing he does accomplishes that goal. I am not sure what the director was trying to accomplish here. Any time the girls were nice to each other and trying to save one another, the man in the movie, "Charles" would MURDER one of the new girls! I have seen the "punish the influencer" plot thousands of times, and this movie did nothing to make that narrative make sense.
Our protagonist "Kelly" is kidnapped, traumatized and made to believe she caused the death of TWO innocent women and had her kidney and toe taken. All the while she is put into stressful situations where she has to find out how to get a certain amount of likes in a ridiculously low amount of time. To no fault of her own, the only thing that works is sex. She is abused beyond belief... and at the end she is THANKFUL for it.
In short, the point of the film was mute. Yet another movie about "if you have social media you CAN'T live a NORMAL life." It makes no sense, and I wish these kinds of movies would discuss a healthy balance, or how social media is great for running a business and making your monthly rent by learning the algorithms of each social media platform!
But no... social media is bad and women are bad for posting their bodies. It felt like the movie was trying to empower women while also telling them to not use social media. So in short, it's takeaway message seemed to be that men should be allowed to use violent tactics to control women by shaming their use of social media and how they chose to portray their bodies to the public. I was not a fan.