Pippa Bianco’s first feature film is a sensitive yet disturbing drama
Share is one of the most talked-about films of the year, because it deals with a very current theme: being young in th age of social media.
The film is a sort of expansion of the theme and it’s based on Bianco’s short film of the same name, for which she won the Cinéfondation Award at Cannes Film Festival in 2015. Share premiered at Sundance Festival in January and it was also released in July as a TV movie for HBO; now it’s partecipating at the 14th edition of Rome Film Festival in the category Everybody’s Talking About It.
The film follows Mandy, a 16-year-old school athlete who wakes up on her front lawn after getting drunk at a party. The following day her friend Jenna sends her a video of the previous night, showing Mandy unconscious on the floor while her crush, A.J. pulls down her pants. Jenna received the video, but she has no idea on who filmed, her friend and she wants to help. On the other side, Mandy has no memory of that night and many questions torment her mind: was she mocked? Was she raped? Who shot the video? How many boys were there? As the video goes viral, Mandy is forced to ask for help from her parents and what started as a terrible personal experience will soon turn into a public debate.
Bianco crafted a compelling straight-to-the-point film that investigates how consent is perceived by many contemporary teenagers. The viewers immediately understand the seriousness of the video content, but most of the characters don’t. The director makes a disturbing portrait of high school life in the digital era and what comes out from her analysis is that, no matter the evidence, sometimes is very difficult to charge the guilty party for this kind of crimes.
Rhianne Barreto (known to the audience for her role on Amazon’s Hanna) gives an impressive performance as Mandy, joined by a great cast of supporting actors including Charlie Plummer, Poorna Jagannathan, J.C. MacKenzie, Nicolas Galitzine and Lovie Simone.
