Heroes of the film “Mainstream” woke up famous thanks to a viral video on the Internet. Now corporations dream of cashing in on their glory, while bloggers themselves are trying to fight for their relationships and their souls. The film from the Venice Film Festival will be released on 3 June.
It all starts like a sweet American growing up drama: young Frankie (Maya Hawke), like half of Los Angeles residents, dreams of fame, but languish on her unloved bar job. She loves to shoot concept videos and post them to YouTube. The matter does not go beyond a dozen likes until the moment when Frankie manages to shoot a mini-improvisation of the artistic stranger Link (Andrew Garfield), beckoning to the cheese shop in a rat costume. It becomes clear: this video will become viral on YouTube. With the support of Jake, who is hopelessly in love with her, Frankie turns Link into a real online revolutionary – with his show and millions of subscribers. But the more popular Link becomes, the more he resembles the heroes of his own parody. The question inevitably arises: has he always been this way?
The film-satire on the world of video bloggers is the second directorial work of Gia Coppola, granddaughter of Francis Ford Coppola, author of the legendary films “The Godfather” and “Apocalypse Now”. The idea of the film came to her while watching Elia Kazan’s black and white “Faces in the Crowd”. She was struck by this drama about the power of entertainment, and the film felt incredibly relevant to our time. Based on the stories of her friend who worked with YouTube bloggers, Gia decided to connect two worlds: the classic Hollywood film “Faces in the Crowd” and the world of Internet stars, as well as reflect the theme of growing up in the era of social media.
According to the director, her goal was not to provide any kind of expert opinion about social media. Rather, she wanted to express how she felt about their positive aspects as well as negative ones, such as online bullying or social media addiction. Nevertheless, behind a methodical analysis of all the pros and cons of the digital age, Coppola’s belonging to an irretrievably elusive world appears – the world of great directors and leisured storytelling. However, not succumbing to nostalgia, Gia fills the film with insane special effects, acid colors and freaky characters.
The film distribution in Minsk is organized by Visual and Performing Arts Centre “ART Corporation”.
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