Slamdance 2010
Social networking takes on a frightening personality in Jeff Phillips' new film "UrFrenz", which premiered Saturday January 23, 2010 at Slamdance. This dramatic narrative examines the connections that are made on popular and "friendly" social sites and what can happen when you don't really know who you are talking to.
The film follows two teenage girls, one popular and one an outcast, who used to be friends. Catherine (Lily Holleman) struggles with depression and cuts herself, her life is monitored by her mother being that she does not want Catherine to hurt herself again. Madison (Najarra Townsend) also suffers from depression, she is the popular girl at school struggling to be happy with her family and herself, being that she was dumped by her boyfriend. A rumor started by Catherine prompts Madison's mother to create a fake online profile, posing as a home-schooled teenage boy, to track Catherine and her interactions with her daughter. Things get complicated when Catherine falls for Brandon, the fake alias, and when Madison's mother cannot remove herself from the fake person she has created until it is too late.
The film takes an interesting look at social networking sites, making the real evil the parents and them overstepping their boundaries into their child's privacy."UrFrenz" refers to the social website that hosts your profile, much like a Facebook/Myspace account where one can chat and update their profile name. The internet is a scary place, but also is shown as a necessary outlet for young adults to be able to remove themselves from the pressures and hardships of high school. Of course it can be a dangerous place being that you are never really sure of who you are talking to.
Poignantly, the director deals with the touchy subject of teenage suicide. Delicately handling the pain and frustration that every teenager feels; exploring the fine line between being unhappy and then taking the step to ending that unhappiness.
"UrFrenz" tackles high school, depression, loneliness and identity issues with ease. Phillips wrote his characters with a true sense of the angst of being a teenager. Funny that he said during the Q & A that he was inspired to write this film because he has a teenage daughter himself and it is so difficult to monitor and protect her with the internet. Although the parents seem to be the ones to blame in this situation the film brings up timely issues of the internet and the evils of social networking.
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1 comment:
great review, it was a great film!
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