Hyperland

They probably didn't have much budget to produce this, which they try to cleverly hide. But in the end this is a pretentious, rather boring sci-fi vision that adds nothing new. It is long, lacks a professional direction and a good script (one would think that both of those are crucial for a good movie). Hence skip this one, there is better alternatives out there.

This film is gripping so many issues plaguing the world today at once: The ubiquity of social media, racism, misogyny, fake news, and our tendency to judge everything and everyone quickly, passionately and on a very thin basis. And it does so through a breathtaking spiral of a story that does not take prisoners and could happen anywhere, anytime, and to anyone.

A prescient, visually riveting and superbly composed piece of art.

Hyperland is set in a near future, where behaviour is socially rated and everyone is constantly monitored and judged by their peers. The great thing about the film is, that while it uses the dystopian setting as a part of the plot, it never only relies on it. Rather, it uses the setting as a matter of course to drive the narrative.

Very often, near future dystopias, especially those based on the over-exaggeration of modern social media and surveillance technology trends, somehow manage to stay behind within the public discourse. Hyperland, however, manages to drive the discourse forward, not only surfing a wave but actually creating it. Hence, the film is fantastic and very much recommended.

At the start, Hyperland does not really tell you where you are, or what kind of a world your characters are inhabiting. But as a viewer, you realise very quickly that a single central element shapes its world: A social networking system on which everyone is watching everyone, all the time, in a non-stop social currency & surveillance scheme, controlling all aspects of life. At first glance, the system - which directly projects into the brains of those connected to it - looks a lot like the things we know from social media: It's all about likes and approval from the people that virtually surround us. But very soon, the film shows how misguided such a system can become once it turns on you: When grave injustice is done to the central character Cee, Hyperland does not pursue the evildoer - instead it goes after her, the innocent victim. The remainder of the film is the pursuit of a remedy: What can Cee do, now that she's been ostracised by a collective of everyday spies. The film asks uncomfortable questions that everyone who has a profile on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter should be able to relate to: What does it mean when we rate and vote and like and dislike, once these systems become as embedded in our world as their makers want them to be? Let's not forget, Mark Zuckerberg just called his corporation Meta. Hyperland is here to show us what might happen, once Facebook really does "go meta".

Finally something different than always the same boring, stereotypical end-time dystopias. Above all, the current reference - think of Zuckerberg's "Meta" plans - makes this vision so relevant. In addition to the very convincing actors, a very refreshing work visually.