I checked out this short film after reading a report that actress Laura Harrier would be starring in an upcoming film called Strobe, directed by Taylor Cohen. I was familiar with Harrier, but not Cohen, so naturally I Googled him and went to his IMDb page and shortly thereafter found he directed a short of the exact same name, Strobe. The upcoming film starring Harrier seems to be a feature film that'll be based on this short, so I was interested. It didn't hurt that I quite like Maia Mitchell as an actress. My introduction to her was through the show The Fosters, which she was great in.
Upon doing a little research on Cohen after seeing this film, I found out that he directed several music videos for artists like Billie Eilish, Conan Gray, and Nicki Minaj. This made a lot of sense to me because this short film is very visually pleasing with very nice cinematography. The use of strobe lights in multiple scenes were well-used. Maia Mitchell is great in this, playing a teenage girl who secretly has an obsession with fictional famous DJ Strobe. It might be accurate to call her a stan. The ways she tries to get his attention over Twitter become increasingly more and more disturbing until the film has a bit of a shocking end. The film explores celebrity worship, idolatry, and parasocial relationships.
What I found poignant is just how relatable and poignant this was. I can't say that I've ever obsessed over a celebrity to the point that I put myself in danger and did and said questionable things, as the lead does in this film. But I've certainly obsessed over a number of crushes in my life. I'm not proud to admit it, but it's happened. It was unsettling, and very effective, how I could see myself much of the time in Mitchell's portrayal. The incessant waiting around to see if they'll reply. Centering your life around one person even though they probably don't know you exist. Putting yourself in danger just to hear from them. Threatening the person that if they don't reply to you you'll do something bad to yourself or others. It all just rang very true.
The film isn't without its issues though. The script is very sparse and the story very simple. It almost felt like a skeleton of a script, not a script just yet. Or like an idea that still needed to gestate and germinate. I really wish things were explained and expanded upon more. I wish we got to know the lead character much more because you don't really feel for her. We observe this unstable girl going through this fixation she has, but never really get to know her. There is maybe a handful of lines total in this 8-minute short. I do think this could've been longer and not lost anything. I do wish the ending wasn't so abrupt. I do wish it was expanded upon why DJ Strobe decided to finally follow her on Twitter at the end. Was he trying to get her to hurt herself?
I highly recommend this. Although the story is somewhat lacking, Maia Mitchell gives a strong performance as the lead, and Taylor Cohen has a great talent for direction and cinematography.
Upon doing a little research on Cohen after seeing this film, I found out that he directed several music videos for artists like Billie Eilish, Conan Gray, and Nicki Minaj. This made a lot of sense to me because this short film is very visually pleasing with very nice cinematography. The use of strobe lights in multiple scenes were well-used. Maia Mitchell is great in this, playing a teenage girl who secretly has an obsession with fictional famous DJ Strobe. It might be accurate to call her a stan. The ways she tries to get his attention over Twitter become increasingly more and more disturbing until the film has a bit of a shocking end. The film explores celebrity worship, idolatry, and parasocial relationships.
What I found poignant is just how relatable and poignant this was. I can't say that I've ever obsessed over a celebrity to the point that I put myself in danger and did and said questionable things, as the lead does in this film. But I've certainly obsessed over a number of crushes in my life. I'm not proud to admit it, but it's happened. It was unsettling, and very effective, how I could see myself much of the time in Mitchell's portrayal. The incessant waiting around to see if they'll reply. Centering your life around one person even though they probably don't know you exist. Putting yourself in danger just to hear from them. Threatening the person that if they don't reply to you you'll do something bad to yourself or others. It all just rang very true.
The film isn't without its issues though. The script is very sparse and the story very simple. It almost felt like a skeleton of a script, not a script just yet. Or like an idea that still needed to gestate and germinate. I really wish things were explained and expanded upon more. I wish we got to know the lead character much more because you don't really feel for her. We observe this unstable girl going through this fixation she has, but never really get to know her. There is maybe a handful of lines total in this 8-minute short. I do think this could've been longer and not lost anything. I do wish the ending wasn't so abrupt. I do wish it was expanded upon why DJ Strobe decided to finally follow her on Twitter at the end. Was he trying to get her to hurt herself?
I highly recommend this. Although the story is somewhat lacking, Maia Mitchell gives a strong performance as the lead, and Taylor Cohen has a great talent for direction and cinematography.
