James Ponsoldt's fifth outing at the helm of a feature film produced a dramatic creation of the realities of ultimate connectivity through social media. Ponsoldt uses simple features within the film that allow for the realities of a connected world to be felt with all the angst, freshness, fear and thrill of having millions of followers. The director uses red text graphics to show the audience the responses that Mae is getting from her followers. The on screen imagery creates the day to day for many of us who are searching for the best response, trying to read every response, getting anxious that we aren't able to see every little red bubble. He does a fine job of creating the thrill and anxiety of social media on-screen.
To further these emotions we watch as Mae's very public life spills over into the privacy of her family's lives, specifically with her Mom & Dad. Once she sees them in a very private sexual act, so does the rest of the world. Ponsoldt reveals to us the reality of social media infringing on the privacy rights of others who do not ask for their lives to be posted publicly.
In all, this film's narrative leads us to an understanding of the extremes of social media and sharing every second of our lives: relationships are torn apart and some even lose their lives such as Mercer. The movie begs the question, "How far should this go?" to be answered.
