Mainstream
Andrew Garfield and Maya Hawke in MAINSTREAMGia Coppola's sophomore effort, Mainstream is a faux glamorised and damming assessment of social media influence in the 21st century. Utilising an outstanding cast-list with resulting phenomenal performances, strong editing, and visual composition, Coppola's feature is not only thematically fascinating but it is expertly crafted. With only a few issues present, it is evident the Coppola family are still rich in artistic filmmaking merit.
First and foremost, nothing touched upon in Mainstream thematically is particularly new or fresh. The idea to magnify stardom and success through the digital age within this social media dedication has been touched on in the Joe Kerry vehicle Spree, albeit as a more fanatical genre piece as well as in cousin, Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring. It should be no surprise that Gia's Mainstream is more like the latter than the former. Mainstream takes that rich and fascinating thematic and brings a more restrained notion and humanised approach. Similar to The Bling Ring, it shows the fascination and absorbing fury of social media and the more profound and darker ramifications of actions upon others and upon one’s self.
The decision to ground an authentic vision of this social epidemic offers a more organic approach that greater reflects reality. The highs and lows feel brighter and darker by not over intensifying the aesthetic and its themes. The result heightens the narrative ten-fold, and when Coppola and screenwriter, Tom Stuart go to the darker places of this social media devotedness, the resulting darkness hits more poignantly and brutally with a sincerer effect.
This allows the performances to never be overindulged with arcane writing. The performances shine through organically and authentically. The resulting standout here is the fabulous and devilish performance from Andrew Garfield. The description of wicked and wild does not quite do this incredible performance justice. It is a fascinating, internally crafted role that becomes the thematic epicentre of the feature. Outlandish and broad but also restraint and quaint to amplify the seductive nature of the performance, Garfield unleashes quite the power he has stored as a performer, not only in creative freedom but also in the execution of monologue, depth and range.
Equally as strong are Maya Hawke and Nat Wolff in supporting roles. Both have a more relinquished and restrained depth to accommodate Garfield but add sympathetic and magnetic layers to proceedings. Particularly Hawke, who further continues her breakout years and Mainstream showcases the all-important depth and range the actress has shown glimpses. The actress is constantly full of charisma and charm, with the audience falling into the idealistic mindset of her character as equally as Garfields'. Natt Wolff brings warmth and humanity to proceedings. It is a character who acts as the audience's voice, a more humanitarian influence, but Wolff plays it well and fills the film with a significant heart.
Impressive as the performances are, credit is most certainly due for the filmmaking prowess. First and foremost, the pacing is exquisite. Clocking in at just ninety-five minutes, Coppola and editor, Glen Scantlebury perfectly pace this drama, influenced by short-form entertainment; the editing is swift, fast and furious, albeit retaining a cinematic quality. Autumn Durald's cinematography also feels key to balancing the Snapchat and cinematic generation.
That being said, a few issues are present. Firstly, there are various instances in which the film ages itself drastically due to the aesthetic chosen. Sequences involving emojis and technological occurrences that arise on-screen work in the moment to evoke mood and heightened reality, but even after an initial viewing and how ever-evolving the digital medium is, this time next year, said sequences will have aged dramatically, and this loses its initial point.
Secondly, throughout the film, Coppola and Stuart balance a great deal of nuance in an incredibly loud and blasé feature with its themes. The two orchestrate a scene that almost breaks the fourth wall by incorporating real-life influencers. Now, on paper, this does not sound like an issue, but when incorporated into this story, it undermines the present issues and doubles down on humanising its themes, of which are already clearly and well held.
Made more difficult is the participation of both Jake Paul and Patrick Starr who have not been the most well-behaved during the current pandemic. Their participation feels conscious of acknowledging that, even in a damning satirical feature that assassinates the influencer type characters, they still have absolutely no morals or acknowledgement that this is an attack on them, but hey, maybe money talks a little too loud to these people.
Gia Coppola's sophomore effort is an entertaining piece of cinema throughout. Incorporating a socially relevant theme of greed and lust on a digital platform, it will no doubt hit home quite hard, if the target audience is ever able to find this in a swarm of readily-available platforms. Overall, the main issue that arises here is: will the target audience consume this? The jury is most certainly out; even with three of the freshest actors working today, the aesthetic will undoubtedly do no favours, and the themes will be especially saturated and constantly reiterated for a Snapchat generation to be in any way focused but intrigued. However, those who can lay their eyes on this piece will be presented with a deeply poignant and relevant diagnostic of a troubling and ever-strange generation.
