Above the Influence
2021 · 10m · USA
Directed by Garrett McGale
Tones: darkly comic, melancholic
A working artist tries to keep his relationships and his integrity intact while operating in the swampy ecosystem of nano-influencers. Spoiler: the swamp is winning.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
Nano-influencer drama is such a low-status premise it loops back into being interesting. Most films about the internet flatter the internet — this one looks like it might not.
Treating nano-influencers — the lowest rung of the attention economy — as worthy dramatic subject is exactly the move most satire skips. Ingrid Goes West with the volume turned down is a useful description but the comp also gestures at a tonal restraint that's hard to pull off.
Page summary is thin — just director and cast — so I'm reading more from premise than craft. Nano-influencer satire is a fresh angle on attention-economy fatigue but without form details I can only get to interested.