Our take
This new documentary is about the exact scale to which social media is harming us, as testified to by people from the industry: ex-executives at Google, Instagram, Facebook, and even the ex-President of Pinterest. All have left their companies for (incredibly valid) ethical concerns that they share here.
It’s a blend of interview footage and a fiction film that follows a family who feels more distant because of social media. This allows to see the implications of what the interviewees are saying in real life but quite frankly it also serves as a welcome break from the intensity of their words. How intense? One of them predicts civil war within 20 years.
What it won
BAFTA
1 nom
Sundance
1 nom
The story
This documentary-drama hybrid explores the dangerous human impact of social networking, with tech experts sounding the alarm on their own creations.
Elsewhere
"The film will definitely make you more cognizant of your own behavior - not just of how you use the internet, but how the internet uses you."
— David Ehrlich
"It asks fundamental and existential questions about whether we are literally writing (with code) ourselves out of the ability to make vital decisions."
— Nell Minow
The details
Who picked it
Bilal Zouheir is the founder of A Good Movie to Watch. He is based in the US and a member of the Nevada Film Critics Society. He grew up in Morocco, where he learned English from watching movies. Bilal's work with A Good Movie to Watch is focused on offering an alternative to streaming algorithms, which are often used as commercial tools by streaming services.
A bit disappointed to see it being recommended here. The message is good (although don’t we already know it all?), but the execution is absolute rubbish. It feels like grotesque propaganda “Say no to drugs” ads from the 80s. Plus these terribly cheesy dramatizations. Skip it.