I watched this movie a few weeks back. When I first finished it, I was left a little disappointed and confused, but it had remained in my mind and I thought about it more. On first watch, I probably would've given it a 5/10 but once you start thinking deeper, it starts to catch. I've seen many many many people in the reviews COMPLETELY missing the mark on what the movie is about
On the surface, it's about a broken mother son relationship that is rekindled by the end. This is where a large portion of the audience stopped thinking about it and just saw it for what it looked to be. However, this is absolutely not the big idea of the movie and it's a little sad that many people think it is.
The true plot is is about rich (white) people wanting to seem socially conscious and seeing themselves as some kind of saving grace for the people that they feel are lesser than them. Evelyn is desperately begging Kyle, a son of an abusive dad who had to escape to a shelter with his mom, to go to college even though he's perfectly content with working at his dad's shop. She attempts to decide his future for him and have no regard for what he wants to do. She has the best intentions but feels like her opinion is of higher value than his. There's also Evelyn's son Ziggy who is spoiled and extremely disrespectful to his parents. He's an aspiring musician who has 10,000 followers give or take on a niche streaming platform. He develops a crush on his classmate, Lila, who is extremely passionate about politics. One day, he decides to adapt a poem she wrote about the Marshall Islands into a song and plays it for her. In a genuine moment, she is impressed with him and feels as if he might have some heart in him. Later that night however, he performs his song in front of his audience on the streaming platform he's popular on. The next day, he tells her about it and how much money he pocketed, showing how you can be "political and still make money". She's obviously disgusted with him and tells him off.
All in all, it's an okay movie with a really good underlying message that a lot of people didn't get. It could've done a better job with acting and just a stronger job on the material other than making the main characters as dislikable as possible. Still an interesting watch that will leave you thinking.
On the surface, it's about a broken mother son relationship that is rekindled by the end. This is where a large portion of the audience stopped thinking about it and just saw it for what it looked to be. However, this is absolutely not the big idea of the movie and it's a little sad that many people think it is.
The true plot is is about rich (white) people wanting to seem socially conscious and seeing themselves as some kind of saving grace for the people that they feel are lesser than them. Evelyn is desperately begging Kyle, a son of an abusive dad who had to escape to a shelter with his mom, to go to college even though he's perfectly content with working at his dad's shop. She attempts to decide his future for him and have no regard for what he wants to do. She has the best intentions but feels like her opinion is of higher value than his. There's also Evelyn's son Ziggy who is spoiled and extremely disrespectful to his parents. He's an aspiring musician who has 10,000 followers give or take on a niche streaming platform. He develops a crush on his classmate, Lila, who is extremely passionate about politics. One day, he decides to adapt a poem she wrote about the Marshall Islands into a song and plays it for her. In a genuine moment, she is impressed with him and feels as if he might have some heart in him. Later that night however, he performs his song in front of his audience on the streaming platform he's popular on. The next day, he tells her about it and how much money he pocketed, showing how you can be "political and still make money". She's obviously disgusted with him and tells him off.
All in all, it's an okay movie with a really good underlying message that a lot of people didn't get. It could've done a better job with acting and just a stronger job on the material other than making the main characters as dislikable as possible. Still an interesting watch that will leave you thinking.