Director / Matt Spicer (Feature film debut)
Stars/ Aubrey Plaza, Elizabeth Olsen, Wyatt Russell, O’Shea Jackson Jr. and Billy Magnussen

According to statista.com, there are 2.46 billion social media users out of a world population of 7.5 billion people (as at August 2017). Many, if not all of you, are well aware of the ease in which your personal information is able to be obtained and your interests and activities followed. It’s fair to say that our generation has willingly succumbed to the simplicity in accessibility of the ever-evolving technological world, and the undeniable curiosity of others that is brought to our fingertips by various platforms of social media.

Therefore, heed the character of Ingrid Thorburn (Aubrey Plaza) in the darkened comedy INGRID GOES WEST as an exposé of just how far addiction and obsession can take a person. We first meet Ingrid during a brief stint at a mental hospital that she is compulsorily attending after rocking up unannounced at the wedding of a social media acquaintance she mistook for a friend. Shortly after her release from serving time for the unhealthy social media habits that sent her to rehab, Ingrid relocates herself to Los Angeles where she seeks a fresh start. It isn’t before long though that Ingrid, who is lonely without knowing anyone in her new home, turns to social media for company and stumbles across an Instagram star named Taylor Sloane (Elizabeth Olsen) that reignites her obsessive nature.

Not only does INGRID GOES WEST feature one of the best tag lines in a film this year (“She’ll Follow You”) that is #creepy, it is also an uncomfortably funny, dreadfully saddening and downright frightening film, all at once.

A Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award Winner at Sundance, INGRID GOES WEST is a smart, satirical and realistic observation of the fuel that social media can fire when in the hands of a person who misuses or overuses its capabilities. Endless in its potential to be both visionary and a deeper psychological film, writers Matt Spicer and David Branson Smith have kept the setting grounded to the present state of social media only. There is sufficient background incorporated as part of Ingrid’s character to also view the film as a limited introspection of the triggers and the drivers that surround her disturbing behaviour and drastic actions. Viewers that invest further after-thought to this compelling component of the storytelling will find themselves even more deeply immersed by the film.

Adding an exclamation mark to its non-preachy yet cautionary message is a totally unnerving and utterly brilliant performance from Aubrey Plaza, in a film that is much closer to being a true story than most of us wish to admit!

4 stars

Viewer Discretion/ MA15+ (Strong coarse language)

Trailer / INGRID GOES WEST

Moviedoc thanks Rialto Distribution for the invite to the screening of this film

Review by Moviedoc / “LIKE” on Facebook – Moviedoc

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