It all seemed perfect. Too perfect. The bright pastel threads, cheerful grins, and radiant phone screens that locked into a perpetual cycle of likes, star ratings, and faux Facebook charm appeared faultless. Like no error could possibly be made. Yet, while everything seemed perfect in the first five minutes of the opening episode of Black Mirror, everything towards the end began to take a turn for the worst…or maybe the best? Well, that’s up for you to debate.
‘Nosedive’, the primary episode of Black Mirror’s season three, takes this familiar approach to life to the following level. Imagine a form of modern-day Pleasantville where everyone greets one another, smiles are bestowed on you in abundance and no-one ever speaks ill of one another. Everyone moves through life politely and respectfully and, should a problem ever arise, it’s forbidden in an exceedingly very passive-aggressive manner. Sincerity has become a thing of the past, for an honest comment or a sarcastic remark may quickly end in your numbers dwindling. Yes, within the world of ‘Nosedive’ people are mere numbers: the more “likes” they score, the upper their status in society.
Lacie (Bryce Dallas Howard) is an ambitious woman who has set her eyes on an apartment in an exceedingly prestigious lifestyle complex. It’s disgustingly expensive and nauseatingly superficial, but her mind has been made. She must become a resident here so as to succeed in the contentedness she has been striving for a long time. There’s only 1 problem: she’s a 4.3 and also the complex only accepts 4.5 residents. But Lacie is optimistic. With the assistance of an analytic coach who schools her altogether the possible ways she will reach a 4.5 in an exceedingly short period of your time, she believes she will make it happen. All she must do is befriend people with a better rating; once they engage along with her, a rating from them can automatically boost hers.
Having always hung on to a quiet obsession along with her former childhood friend Naomie (Alice Eve) – a shallow bully with a solid 4.7 – whom she frequently stalks online, she figures it should not hurt to succeed in RE-befriending her. To Lacie’s surprise, Naomie calls her and asks her to be the maid of honor at her wedding. With the marriage guest-list being made of a hoard of exclusives, it’s the right opportunity for Lacie to bring her rating up by impressing them along with her speech – the content of which doesn’t actually come from an area of truth, but desperation. But along the route to the event, her rating continues to drop, causing lots of hiccups along the way.
From the beginning, I grasped the message Charlie Booker was trying to convey to the audience. The over-exaggerated, soft-toned film was meant to represent the control social media has on society today. Despite the cliched theme of the film, it raised a question and was extremely thought-provoking to the audience. The comical tone of the scenes created a lighthearted tone for a serious situation. I actually preferred the film that way because it made it more entertaining rather than sitting through another dull picture stressing the importance of millennials putting their phones down.
There isn’t much to discuss my dislikes of the film. I mean, overall I believe the Booker did a brilliant job creating an intriguing film, but I wouldn’t go so far to call it moving. As I previously mentioned, the theme has been a reoccurring one in many films this decade, therefore, possessing a sort of predictable storyline in films that follow this theme. Despite that, this film did have some predictable moments but still held a great level of surprise for the audience. With all being said, there’s not much to dislike about the film unless you’d want to be a total shrew and tackle the chosen background music played during intense scenes… but I’m not, so I won’t.
Everything played out well and the actors and actresses all did well with playing their point in the film. Lacie was an absolute sweetheart who of course would be the audience all-time favorite in the film along with sweet, loveable Susan. Versus Naomi, who may or may not be all that likable by the crowd. These three women in the film represent the social classes, statuses, and people of today. So depending on whose watch, the favorites and fewer favorites of the audiences are subjective to change. Overall I recommend this film to others wholeheartedly. It’s most definitely something that’d get your mind wandering and you’d find yourself binge-watching the rest of Black Mirror’s episodes.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Nyah Speaking. 