The word 'content' is one that will elicit some interesting reactions in people. The word is mostly used in conjunction with internet and social media culture, where any photo, video, or post that someone makes is designed to fill a space, to add to their ever growing catalogue in an attempt to build a brand or to project an image of a life they want people to think they're living. It's something that can be cold and calculated, designed for maximum impact towards achieving their goals, and because of that a lot of people have come to dislike the word 'content'. Even art is being labelled as content, the latest studio movie, a new comic series, a TV show, gets branded as content and made to feel lifeless and vapid, made not because those behind the scenes have a passion, but because it's a box checking exercise. Content can be tossed onto anything to immediately discredit it's integrity, and Content, the new film from writer and director Adam Meilech seems to want to use the concept of this soulless media to create something worthwhile.
Content begins on a computer screen, the user logs onto an online therapy service where they're working as some kind of counsellor or advisor. Thanks to a mix-up in posting some confidential information to the wrong person the user gets dragged into a video call with a man who wants to torment her, forcing her into talking another user into harming himself. Then we get a 'cut' from the director, a third user whose webcam pops up and we learn that this isn't the film itself, but a movie within the movie. The online advisor Emma is actually an actress named Margot (Megan Boechmcke), and the twisted caller is called Teddy (Alex Mills). Their director AJ (Adam Meilech) is trying to put together a low budget horror film in the style of Unfriended and Host, using devices that people have in their homes.
However, Margot and Teddy are unaware that they're not making a film; or at least the film that they think they're making. AJ has hacked into their devices, using their webcams to watch them without their knowledge. He's stalking their social media, hiring other actors to mess with them pretending to be other people. He's using their life to create a meta narrative in which his real life and his manipulation of theirs whilst making his film, Content, is all part of the scheme. As the film progresses we learn more about how the outwardly mild mannered AJ seems to have lost the plot, and witness his twisted schemes come to a head as he tries to ruin several lives in the pursuit of his 'art'.
Perhaps I'm the wrong demographic for Content to really hit the way that the director is hoping, as so much of this film relies on the people involved acting in ways that I just find a bit ridiculous. People always have their computers on so that their actions can be recorded, they're sharing everything online for AJ to use against them. I think that I'm perhaps too old and too introverted for that kind of thing. Yes, I've used social media, but I rarely post, and I honestly don't care to make some exaggerated persona of myself or care what strangers online think, so every character in the film acting the opposite does make it a little bit harder for me to really connect with them, or to take things a bit serious. It probably also means I'd be safe from a similar situation as AJ would have nothing to do in his attempts at internet stalking.
For those who are 'chronically online' I'm sure that Content will probably creep them out as they imagine someone getting into their lives the way that AJ does, of using their information against them. If you're one of those people who's always on some kind of app, who's planning your next post, and checking your likes and follower numbers Content may be more akin to a home invasion story to you, of someone breaking into your private places and harming you; whereas I just kept wondering why no one just logged off and got away from their phone for a day or two.
The cast do a decent enough job with the script, but it's not a particularly strong cast with a good script. It's clear that these are fairly unknown actors with little experience, and perhaps that's the vibe that Meilech is going for with the whole idea of an unknown director trying to make his film, but for myself it led to several times where some scenes felt a little forced. It's really hard to know what choices were deliberate and which weren't, was the hammy acting a choice, or is that actor just not suited for those moments? Was the death scene kind of silly and flat because it's part of the film within a film narrative, or because that's the best the movie could do? I honestly don't know, and I'm not sure how to level this criticism because of that, but I can't help but feel somewhat bored and unaffected by a number of parts of the film.
I've seen words of praise online for Content, and that's why I said earlier that perhaps I'm just not the right audience for the film, and it's why I won't say it's bad. Instead, I'll just say that whilst I didn't really click with Content it at least tries to be different, and there's definitely an audience out there for it that is going to enjoy the movie.
Content is available now on digital platforms.
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