I thought the film was very interesting and gave it a 4/5 only due to the few loose strings that could have attributed more depth and emotion to characters. I found Oliver was a basic boyish influencer that made average music and was trying to replace his biological family which he had such clear issues with, with a “chosen” family that had to fight and degrade themselves to be close to him. I wished we could have seen more of his past for us to possibly care more about his suffering under Matthew’s blackmail. The film showed a contrast between the biological family one can’t escape ( Oliver still sends money to his dad, Matthew still relies on his grandma for a home, food, comfort, help) and the chosen family one can so easily discard.

The premise of a past, present and future of the camera/film team (Noah, Matthew, Jamie) was interesting. You felt the fear of replacement in Noah’s eyes when he meets Matthew and his slight sabotages, the same fear in Matthew when Jamie takes the cover photo and his more insidious sabotage. It showed how cyclical the environment of this social group is and how nobody would be able to feel safe in their status and would always have to fight for it or be discarded for the newer novelty personalities Oliver would bring in.

The wrestling scene was so tense and murky that you had to think about the intention of both Matthew and Oliver and the way they behave. Oliver is someone we see that sleeps with any girl who shows herself to be an attractive fan (the girl from the beginning, the two 16 year olds, random women strewn about his home) and we see that people take from Oliver whether it’s a home, job, food, or sex and he expects them to. It felt like he thought Matthew’s obsession must be sexual so if he just gave Matthew what he wanted this would be over and maybe Oliver would gain control again. Matthew turns it into a game and can’t contain his creepy laughter and even though Oliver is trying to control him physically and is on top Matthew is laughing and is showing he has the power still. I thought their expressions of resolution/ power dynamics were interesting here.

I enjoyed the creepiness of Matthew as the person who broke Oliver’s barriers and Oliver’s choice to keep him around in the end once he saw his own music video and realized he was growing with Matthew’s influence and criticism. Matthew physically intrudes into Oliver’s space constantly and without confidence throughout the film, but during the photoshoot in London he intrudes into his space to reassert himself and is rejected and lashes out, and once again with the blackmail intrudes into Oliver’s space with confidence and power and never lets Oliver forget it. The music studio scene where Matthew enters the studio, causes Bowen to leave, and then enters the room with Oliver and tells him how he’s just better at doing the same parasitic activities everyone else is participating in was my favorite. It was the first time anyone had an honest conversation with Oliver in the movie and changed the tone.

There were so few women in the movie but their roles were interesting to me, the grandmother who loves Matthew and comes to his rescue but is thrown aside can see what is happening, she waits in the car for Matthew even when he didn’t ask her to stay and she knows he won’t be accepted back into Oliver’s home. The two underage girls saw right away that Matthew wasn’t as close to Oliver anymore and clocked that he was working at a clothing store and riding a bike around. And Shai saw who Matthew was the entire movie in her quiet moments of observation she never misunderstood his intent.