Poser (2021 Tribeca Film Festival); Grade: B
Strictly Films welcomes you back to more coverage of this year's 2021 Tribeca Film Festival! Our next film on the block: Poser.
Poser tells a story about bus girl/dishwasher Lennon (Sylvie Mix), whom wants to become a podcaster. Her podcast will be centered around underground musicians in the city, as she wants to explore these artists. To give her listeners some new music to the table as they would likely not have heard of these artists, as well as interviewing these artists to learn about them and what they go through in the music making process. However Lennon intentions in this podcast goes beyond just showing appreciation towards the least appreciated musicians, Lennon also tends to copy down their lyrics and such as she too is trying to make her way into creating music of her "own".
Poser is quite an experience I must say so, enduring in the underground music scene. As we endure Lennon on her journey of interviewing these artists on her podcast, we go into this world in which is so deeply underground that not only would you not have heard of these artists, you would also not know the places and scenery these artists performed at didn't exist as well. As someone whom is very diverse in music as I pretty much like all kinds of music except EDM and the occasional Screamo, this is the kind of stuff I would not only love to hear but also would love to experience as well in person. I loved the whole underground world this film brought to the table, as surely you would potentially see more viewers go beyond their horizons regarding discovering music.
From a story perspective: It truly takes it time, as we slowly get into the conflict which doesn't really occur until maybe the last twenty-five minutes. Throughout the time frame you're figuring when will Lennon basically get caught, trying to steal music from these underground artists?! But the thing is Lennon is in a real good position, due to the fact these artists rarely are discovered in the first place, so how will anyone know?! It felt like a slow burn perhaps, fairly effective as it truly concluded an unexpected conclusion.
Lennon is a well written character in which speaks volumes towards the subject matter, regarding purpose in this today’s world. In this day and age if you're not popular on a social media scale, YouTube, or even Podcasting then basically you're not special at all. Lennon is a grand example as she's not all that interesting, she's extremely quiet, lacks charisma, as she struggles in bringing something unique within herself. Lennon has done this Podcast to try and find something unique within herself, by taking lyrics from every artist, which is the opposite of being unique. She does this because she wants to somehow fit in this world, in which doesn't feel she fits in at all. If you're young like Lennon as you don't have anything creative to offer, then you're basically just nothing, as Lennon feels completely empty as she's struggling to somehow feel like she belongs in this world. We've been seeing more issues like this over the course of time, as this has been an issue regarding mental health, as Lennon is a great example as she breaks down in the third act.
I like how this film fills in the blank, regarding questions we may have about Lennon. Like why she's doing this Podcast in the first place?! T'was simply answered: To be more outgoing and find her place in this world. How can Lennon afford her apartment, when she only works at a bus girl/dishwasher? T'was simply answered: Her mother gives her money to help out. It doesn't need a whole exposition scene to explain everything, it was all done briefly as those that are paying attention would understand the whole ordeal.
The film is captivated by a lovely visual experience, followed by a wonderful Score, and the music in this was quite lovely from a performance scale. The performances in this film we're all solid as an ensemble cast, I felt Sylvie Mix gave a great performance as I'm surprised this is her debut in a feature length film, as I do expect to her more in the future. Sylvie Mix does a well done job in bringing that sense of awkwardness to her character Lennon, that we kind of felt bad for her at times but at the same we felt weirded out by her actions and such.
A couple issues I have we're just some slow moments and I think when characters are mad at Lennon, I felt were kind of over the top. Especially the whole Insta story scene, like come on bro Lennon couldn't hurt you that badly that you have to tell the whole world about it. Even more so: Lennon didn't drop any music, so you can't really call her a musician in the first place as well.
Poser is quite a captivating experience, that can appear weird however close to comfort food, delivering a striking finale.
Overall, Poser is a solid film. I recommend checking this one out, would appear lovely as a double feature with Ingrid Goes West. -Mitch Smietana