Director: Fernando Lebrija
Rating: 3/5
#RealityHigh is a new film on Netflix. Well, it is not that new but it is from 2017 and I watched it now so there it is…
This film takes teenage stories of abuse and jealousy to a new digital era. Therefore, while pretty rich girls were bullying other girls in teenage films of the past, in this particular film pretty rich girl also has more than eight millions of followers on Twitter and a successful YouTube channel. And importantly, she does not fit into traditional stereotype of a bitchy blonde. She has a brown hair and she is Latina (Alicia Sanz starring as Alexa Medina).
So, things are changing in our lives and we see these changes on film. Thus, in this film when Alexa decides to break up with her boyfriend and announces she has done so publicly, everyone knows what happened. And thus everyone knows that he is available so a shy girl next door Danny Barnes (Nesta Cooper) does not need to worry about going out with her nemesis’ boyfriend because she knows he is free.
What she does not know is that it is not only her who holds negative feelings from childhood when Alexa humiliated her and posted humiliated photos online, but Alexa also does not particularly like she ‘inherited’ her boyfriend. So, she makes a plan to become a best friend with Danny again only to humiliate her online again.
The film is about teenage problems, humiliation, jealousy, but it is also about new form of popularity which is no longer measured with family’s wealth but also with social media channels. In addition, the film is also about honesty and transparency because once Danny responds on social media to accusations expressed against her online, that works just fine because followers and those who saw live statement appreciate honesty. What remains common to this film as opposite to production from the past is the ultimate human quest towards acknowledgement and acceptance of peers, because of which people sometimes cannot tell sincere from fake as they get so desperate to be accepted.
Overall, not a bad film if you give it a thought. However, it is a bit slow for a very long time and then all interesting stuff unfolds a bit too soon.
Thank you for reading.