By Emilio Frenk.
Director: Matt Spicer
Cast: Aubrey Plaza, Elizabeth Olsen, O´Shea Jackson Jr, Billy Magnussen, Pom Klementieff, Hannah Pearl Utt, Meredith Hagner and Wyatt Russell.
Rating: Excellent.
Filmmaker Matt Spicer made his directorial debut with “Ingrid Goes West” and indeed he started with the right foot.
The movie centers in Ingrid Thorburn (Aubrey Plaza) an unstable young girl from Pennsylvania who has been released from an insane asylum after she attacked a young woman.
Again she begins to use social media and starts to follow Taylor Sloane (Elizabeth Olsen) an influencer who is becoming someone special in Ingrid´s life.
A determined Ingrid moves to Los Angeles and will try to befriend Taylor at any costs and become as popular as she is.
One of the things that I considered interesting in “Ingrid Goes West” was the fact of how social media can really affect people and the consequences if it´s not used in a proper manner.
I feel that both Matt Spicer and Co Writer David Branson Smith got really into deep into this subject, which has been a trending topic in modern society and I believe that they did a huge amount of research of people who get obsessed in social media and did payoff.
I like the fact of how Matt Spicer got into deep with Instagram, which has been one of the most influential social media apps and how it was illustrated in here.
Other things that I liked of Spicer was his directing towards his cast, specially Aubrey Plaza, who most of her career has been in supporting roles. She made her first leading one and did an amazing job.
I must say that this is one of the best performances of her career. Other actress that did surprise me was Elizabeth Olsen, who I recently saw in “Wind River” and was phenomenal. This I must say that is her year and all her hard work is paying off.
The story and the concept of “Ingrid Goes West” is very original and I liked the fact that it was more a comedy since normally when we see movies about an obsession they can be either a drama or a thriller.
There were moments in this film that I was uncomfortable and some people in the audience when I was watching the film felt the same way but that was one of Matt Spicer´s intentions on this film and did a great job.
The score of the film is really good, the cinematography and the editing is another element that played a key role in this film.
The way that some scenes were intercut in the film really worked and every single cut made since in this movie.
The ending of the film it was unexpected and I do consider that did payoff.
I knew what “Ingrid Goes West” was about but honestly I did not had any expectations when I went to see the film and saw with my mind totally in blank.
I was surprised at the end and I can say that this is by far one of the best independent films of 2017.
With that being said I highly recommend “Ingrid Goes West” and this is a movie that you cannot miss.