As producer and cutting edge filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov related to me, “Remember when Skype was first invented, the screen share mode? It was somewhere 5, 10 years ago, and I was on Skype with a friend of mine, one of my colleagues, and he didn’t know, he didn’t use it, but I see what he is doing on the screen. . . I saw him moving the mouse, sending documents to print and talking to his mother. . .chatting about me with somebody else. It was very surprising how much I know about the person by watching his desktop. And it was clear that I should make a movie because we live in this world. It’s a totally new reality where we live. It’s not really connected with our world – it is connected, but it’s not really the same, and we’re developing relationships in this new computer world. . .[B]ut creepy is that millions of people die everyday but they come still alive [through the internet]. It’s so creepy. It’s so different. And I was sure that it should be new language, new type of filmmaking which is capturing your behavior on the desktop.” And thus became the genesis for UNFRIENDED.
A film shot and told in real time from the computer screen of Blair, UNFRIENDED focuses on the “return from the dead” of Laura, a teenaged girl bullied by her friends – Blair, Kenning, Val, Jess, Mitch and Adam – all of whom are concurrently doing their nightly end of day ritual of group Skyping with each other, instant messaging and texting as the drama – and terror – unfolds on Blair’s desktop. Blair and boyfriend Mitch have a sexually overtoned Skype conversation going when the rest of the gang pops up with each clearly Skyping from their homes and their lovely faces coming in loud and clear on Blair’s computer. But then a vacant unnamed phantom “box” pops up. A hacker? A glitch? Computer wiz Kenning starts to investigate while Blair is being IM’d “This is Laura.” Believing it to be a sick joke, neither Blair nor anyone else takes this intruder too seriously, until he/she can’t be removed from the web connection. He or she claims to be Laura. But Laura is dead. Or is she? As panic beings to set in, “Laura” makes threats via typing, manipulating each person’s computer screen before embarking on a game of her own.
UNFRIENDED rises and falls not only the cutting edge technology and cinematic styling, but on the cast. Embracing the cyber-obsessed youth of today, director Leo Gabriadze, has assembled of cast of actors who are believable, engaging and resonant of today’s dependence and immersion in the cyber world.
As Kenning, Jacob Wysocki is a standout. Although a bit beyond his high school days, Wysocki (who you may recall as the charming “Cyrus” for the Duplass Brothers) has that terrific high school hijinks energy and elan but with the smart kid techy brains. As a result, he pulls off the fun-loving, friend-supporting brainiac beautifully and truly resonates with authenticity and believability.
Moses Jacob Storm had me doing double-takes thanks to not only his looks, but his performance as Mitch; he is most definitely channeling Josh Hutcherson in look and demeanor. Not fresh, but effective. On the other hand, Will Peltz, whom I took note of in Robert Luketic’s “Paranoia”, is perfection as Adam. He expertly plays Adam as “Adam playing a bad boy” but who really isn’t so bad and allows a vulnerability to come through – difficult when all you have is a space the size of a laptop monitor in which to make the most of the face space for physical and emotional expressiveness and nuance.
Renee Olstead is an interesting casting choice. As Jess, her emotions vacillate from one end of the spectrum to the other and truly capture the teen bravado, angst and fear. Sad to say it, but Courtney Halverson’s Val was just annoying from the start and I for one kept hoping her phone line would be cut.
You know from the get-go that Miss Goody-Two Shoes Blair is anything but. That’s just the high school structure and dynamic. It’s always the ones trying to play themselves off as so virginal and loving and friend to all that are really the ones with the meanest streak and darkest secrets. Shelly Hennig does well enough, but gets to the point of extreme annoyance. How many times can you see tear-filled wide eyed smiling before the insincerity and disingenuousness pour forth as friends become victims to unfolding cyber violence. Where Hennig does excel, however, is in bringing this terrific nervous edge to Blair; the more Blair communicates with “Laura” and the more leading “Laura’s” threats and statements are, the more guilt Hennig brings to the story with nervous freneticism that is beyond palpable.
From a story aspect and technical construction, this is where director Levan “Leo” Gabriadze and screenwriter Nelson Greaves soar thanks to producer Bekmambetov’s rulebook. “First of all, it should be real time. It should be 83 minutes without editing, without trying to manipulate because then you feel it’s a real piece, it’s not directed. Second, I made the decision that sound should be sound you can hear when you are dealing with the computer. There is no score, no score music, no special sound effects. . .It should be based on your real experience. And so the third was you cannot zoom in, you cannot zoom out. You show the screen and the kids. I want the audience to understand what’s happening by using their own experience to observe the screen. . .And also, what was important was that the typing and messaging, you should the same elements available we are using in real life which is the faces and people talking. The acting is sometimes less important than just typing. What I did was just have our team to follow very specific rules. And I think by following those rules we had a limitation which helped us to figure out and discover new language and to create a new experience for cinema, for filmmaking.”
Following the rules laid out, UNFRIENDED is similar in theory to elements of a “found footage” film but using a different medium than a camera and film, here, we are watching everything unfold in real time on the computer screen. The layers of windows, tabs, googling, concurrent messaging, skyping, playlists, freaking out, is seamlessly natural while creating strong antsy and angsty elements. Gabriadze allows us to simmer in the stew of immediacy and “must see this now – must do this now – must answer now” mentality that plagues the world today thanks to technology. What this also does is allows the audience to be a participant; not as voyeuristic participants, but active, as sitting in the audience you become another caller on the Skype hook-up. And THAT is what makes the mind reel with possibilities – and not even that much about the ideas of “supernatural” elements inhabiting phone lines and satellite circuitry as we’ve seen that before – but the whole Big Brother ideology that has permeated the Baby Boomer generation which the Millenials often quite don’t comprehend. UNFRIENDED puts that into language they can understand and comprehend. Someone, something, is always watching.
Nelson Greaves script addresses many of the issues at the forefront of the headlines today, including bullying and cyber bullying, which then leads to thematic subplots of atonement and remorse, but which also then sets the stage for Gabriadze to add visuals elements of gore and terror, much of which is not seen, but only heard and smartly left to the imagination of the characters and the audience. It’s one thing to see intermittent shots of horror but with the screen going black before you can focus on the full visual and see the totality of what is happening, just ratchets up the tension and terror. UNFRIENDED is a testament to the idea that the imagination is a powerful thing, making the fear more palpable – or funny – as the case may be.
Technically, UNFRIENDED has a superb level of creative excellence with the lensing, the editing of the screens within the screen and pixelization of the individual characters and their Skype calls which at times lends to killer haunting skeletal imagery, making the film even more unique and exciting.
As if reading a stream of consciousness, or like an internal voiceover, we feel what each character feels, what each wants and needs. But we also know they cannot hide – nor can we when seated at our own computers at home doing the same thing. They know everything and so do we. Time to friend, UNFRIENDED.
Directed by Levan “Leo” Gabriadze
Written by Nelson Greaves
Cast: Jacob Wysocki, Courtney Halverson, Shelly Hennig, Moses Jacob Storm, Will Peltz, Renee Olstead
