Film Review: Ingrid Goes West Is The Best Dark Comedy of 2017
SYNOPSIS: Ingrid Thorburn (Aubrey Plaza) is an unhinged social media stalker with a history of confusing “likes” for meaningful relationships. Taylor Sloane (Elizabeth Olsen) is an Instagram-famous “influencer” whose perfectly curated, boho-chic lifestyle becomes Ingrid’s latest obsession. When Ingrid moves to LA and manages to insinuate herself into the social media star’s life, their relationship quickly goes from #BFF to #WTF. Built around a brilliantly disarming performance from Aubrey Plaza, Ingrid Goes West (winner of the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at Sundance) is a savagely hilarious dark comedy that satirizes the modern world of social media and proves that being #perfect isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Brilliantly directed and co-written by Matt Spicer, Ingrid Goes West has to be one of the best dark comedies I have ever seen. It is hilarious , cringingly awkward, and one of the most socially relevant films to come out in a long time. It is no secret that people feel torn by social media. You have critics that say social media has destroyed “communication” or how humans connect with each other, but that is not, necessarily, true. Now more than ever people have a way to remain linked with the ones they want, even if the images they present are lies or “off”. Yet, Ingrid Goes West observes how we use social media to connect with our personal selves as individuals.
Aubrey Plaza plays Ingrid Thorborn with pure excellence. She deserves an award for the way she moves, speaks, and feels like a paper-thin cut-out of a human being; one gust of wind and her fragility is shattered. Ingrid is so achingly pained by a loneliness that fractures into delusion and deceit that Plaza MUST be recognized for being a complete, honest embodiment of mental illness. You get moments of lucidity with Ingrid, in which she realizes she has gone too far in her actions, but she is so compelled by her obsession for “likes” and “friends”, you feel bad at how she cannot stop her self. If anything, Ingrid Goes West presents social media as a purporter of people’s mental health issues, rather, than its usual linkage as a space for promoting beauty and confidence. Enter Elizabeth Olsen as Taylor Sloane; a cool, bohemian chic chick that is way less put together than her awesome Instagram account. Although “mentally stable”, she obsessively maneuvers through her life, her family, and potential friends as if there was a giant, invisible social ladder she had to climb to get to Heaven. Yet, there are moments when the facade is briefly unmasked, particularly in her relationship with husband Ezra O’ Keefe, played by Wyatt Russell. Thought not a “major character” he provides a depth to Taylor, and the cost she is racking up, through her marriage, by wanting to seem beautiful rather than be it. Still, there are plenty of characters to shine in Ingrid Goest West.
Though the film shines in Californian cinematography and its thorny comedy, which, again, will make you squint from seeing Ingrid’s painful social interactions, what makes Ingrid Goes West one of the best films of the year is that it is a character piece. Each person shows you something about yourself and how society works. Billy Magnussen is so incredibly annoying as Nicky Sloane, Taylor’s brother, that he reminds viewers mental issues can be the cause of toxic, social relations but so can plain malice. You will hate Nicky, which means Magnussen did excellent. Meanwhile, O’Shea Jackson Jr. is lovable Dan Pinto. He is kind, generous, and 100% charming, which is why he stands out as a character that is genuinely these things rather than someone trying to look as such. From Ingrid to Nicky, no one is having moments of self-awareness or self-control, to which social media is used as their “spiritual permission” to continue being bad because they look good. Hence, Ingrid Goes West is a must-see for three reasons: its characters, its laughs, and its ultimate message; how you present yourself to yourself should be as important as how you present yourself to others. Gaining friends does not guarantee self-love. For More Information On Ingrid Goes West Click Here. The film will be released into cinemas on August 11.
