"Share" (2019 release; 89 min.) brings the story of Mandy, a junior at the (fictitious) Alexander Gardner High School. As the movie opens, Mandy is unconscious and laying on a lawn at night. As she awakens she has no idea what happened that night or how she got to the lawn. She does notice a large bruise on her left arm. At basketball practice the next day, something is clearly off with Mandy, but what? Then later that day, Mandy gets multiple texts containing a blurry video with what appears to be her being sexually assaulted. She still has no recollection of what happened... At this point we are 10 min. into the movie, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.
Couple of comments: this is the feature length debut of writer-director Pippa Bianco (working from her short film of the same name). She tackles an all-too-common problem among teenagers: a young woman taken advantage off after she has had too much to drink, with a video subsequently uploaded and shared. Mandy immediately faces tremendous peer and family pressure about whether or not to press charges, or to just forget about the whole thing and "move on". Sadly, no matter what she decides, there are no good options for Mandy, and as the film amply demonstrates, the consequences for Mandy are heartbreaking, no matter what. This is just the latest release that looks at peer pressure, and in particular social anxiety, among teenagers in today's environment (check out as well the recent documentary "I Love You, Now Die", among others). At one point Mandy asks a friend "why didn't you help me?", and the friend responds "you said you were fine", which Mandy doesn't recall saying... Newcomer Rhianne Barreto is outstanding as the vulnerable Mandy, and surely we have not seen the last of her. Also kudos to the outstanding score for this film, courtesy of electronic musician Shlohmo (the stage moniker of Henry Laufer).
"Share" premiered at this year's Sundance film festival to immediate critical acclaim. It is now showing on HBO (where I saw it). If you are in the mood for a tense high school social anxiety and abuse drama, I'd readily suggest you check this out, be it on VOD or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.
