Joe Keery Kills People To Go Viral on Social Media in The Wildly Entertaining Film SPREE - Sundance Review
In a world where likes and follows are a status symbol, Kurt Kunkle (played by Stranger Things star Joe Keery) is a vlogger who has spent years chasing success in the digital realm. Despite his best efforts, @Kurtsworld96 only manages to get single-digit views. As a driver for a rideshare company called Spree, Kurt comes up with a plan to finally get the recognition he thinks he deserves by essentially kidnapping and killing his passengers, all while streaming it live.
While Spree could have been a dark and gritty cautionary tale about the dangers of social media, this film tends to keep things relatively comical. Sure, it's a very dark comedy, but those are some of my favorite movies. I love dark comedies!
Keery does a fantastic job playing a young guy desperate for attention. We learn early on that he had a rough childhood, with his parents getting divorced and his father not really being around. Kurt seems absolutely oblivious to anything other than trying to get more views, and is so sincere about it, he really saves the film from becoming unwatchable. You don't like Kurt, but you empathize with him.
The cinematography was interesting as well. The story is told completely through the vlogs and live-streams of Kurt and the people he interacts with. The screen is often split between the view from a cell phone and one of the many GoPros mounted on Kurt's car.
More and more movies are being made about and with social media, and this could very well be an inspiration for many films in the future. It's exciting to see in movies what technology can do, as well as how we as a society interact with it.
Here’s the synopsis for the film:
Meet Kurt, from @KurtsWorld96. He dreams of one day sitting atop a social media empire, but he’s not there yet. He currently drives for the rideshare company Spree, which is cool for him because he gets to hang with so many dope people all day long. Fortunately, Kurt has come up with the perfect way to go viral: #TheLesson. He’s decked out his car with cameras for a nonstop livestream full of killer entertainment. In the middle of all this madness, a stand-up comedian with her own viral agenda, Jessie Adams, crosses Kurt’s path and becomes our only hope to put a stop to his misguided carnage.
Prolific indie director Eugene Kotlyarenko makes his Sundance Film Festival debut with this gonzo satire of demented social media obsession. Adopting the ambitious style of a continuous social media feed, Spree manages to keep surprising us with its ingenuity, its insights, and an energetic pulse driven by the lead performance of actor Joe Keery. If you follow @KurtsWorld96, he’ll follow you back.
