Ingrid Goes West

INGRID GOES WEST (15)

D: Matt Spicer

Neon/Mighty Engine/141/Star Thrower (Jared Ian Goldman, Tim White, Trevor White, Adam Mireis, Robert Mireis & Aubrey Plaza)

US 2017

97 mins

Comedy/Drama

W: David Branson Smith & Matt Spicer 

DP: Bryce Fortner

Ed: Jack Price

Aubrey Plaza (Ingrid Thorburn), Elizabeth Olsen (Taylor Sloane), O'Shea Jackson, Jr. (Dan Pinto), Wyatt Russell (Ezra O'Keefe), Billy Magnussen (Nicky Sloane), Pom Klementieff (Harley Chung)

The superficiality of social media becomes the butt of the joke for Ingrid Goes West, a black comedy set in the idyllic neighbourhood of an affluent Californian suburb.

Aubrey Plaza gives an excellent performance as the title character, a troubled young woman with an obsessive nature, who, after the death of her mother becomes infatuated with fashion guru Taylor Sloane and her lifestyle after discovering her on Instagram (a social media platform where people share photographs).

Ingrid uses her inheritance to travel to California and rents a room from aspiring screenwriter, Dan Pinto. It doesn't take long for her to infiltrate Taylor Sloane's friendship circle when the mask begins to slip and nothing is as rosy as it once appeared to be.

It's a film that juggles the plasticity of social media platforms as well as the fractured psyche of vulnerable people who seem more occupied with the illusions of having a successful life rather than living one. On top of that, it does manage to be both entertaining and very funny.

The cast are all fantastic, especially Plaza in the lead, Elizabeth Olsen as Sloane and O'Shea Jackson as a Batman-obsessed wannabe screenwriter. The script is also quite brilliantly written, with well-rounded characters and believable dialogue.

It's a perfect example of a film which went under the radar during its cinema run, but is well worth hunting out for a watch.

7/10