Lexi

An easy movie to misunderstand. It can easily be seen as a failed horror found footage film that doesn't really bring the scares. It was immediately obvious to me it was a mockumentary poking fun at found footage, more a dark comedy. It feels very modern, very contemporary with its take on influencers. Not great, but not bad. A decent watch.

Lexi was a lot better than the usual found-footage trash you'll find on Tubi. The faux-mockumentary approach actually works in its favor, and the absence of unnecessarily shaky cam and a negligible reliance on jumpscares add to its positives. There's also an interesting discussion about how modern-day content creators are looked at, beyond their channels and platforms. The perceptions vary, especially in a world that's interested more in seeing people's downfalls than successes. In the world of content creation, phrases like "controversy creates cash" and "trauma/sex sells" are commonly heard. This also makes it hard to differentiate what's raw & real and what isn't.

The actual horror part of the film is also only subtly put across. They never show an outright entity or person that results in Lexi's descent into paranoia. It lies in the unseen, the unheard. The actress playing Lexi - let's forget she's referred to as a 29-year-old because that's BS - but her expressive eyes had me hooked. Every time she was directly facing the camera, it had a bit of a spooky effect on me. Her performance, while a bit overboard in the final act, was pretty solid overall. The ending leaves it ambiguous; we don't get to hear from Lexi's friend who keeps texting her, or Lexi's mother, and from a writing perspective, I guess that was a miss.

Maybe it's the mock documentary genre, that I don't particularly like in general. I didn't find it well written in the sense that the angle some contributors take is unclear. I'm thinking of the older woman and the writer. However, the inclusion of some of lexis followers was quite nice to remind us of the particularities of her profession

Maybe it's the sometimes questionable acting. I found lexis manner quite exaggerated at times. Let's not speak of the fact that she's supposed to be 29... Her fellow influencer is not much better, always performing the exact same facial expressions for the camera.

Maybe it's the poor depiction of what influencers are nowadays. The quality of some of her videos was quite low, the editing was years old. What was shown clearly could not have earned her the movie she's supposed to have. Though the cyberbullying is nicely treated by Lexi herself, it is absent from the documentary entirely which I found too bad.

Or maybe it's the fact that it's not delivering what it's promising. It's labeled as a crime, there is technically no evidence of crime, especially if we follow the supernatural theory. Then it's labeled as horror but nothing much scared me. There were very few scenes who were supposed to in the first place and then the execution was rather un spectacular. Considering that it was a documentary, the only place for the scary stuff was the found footage part and it simply did not deliver. As a whole, it left me disappointed as I did not get what I came for.

"Crime/Horror" is mislabeling. The horror elements are tertiary at best; There's no grizzled old cop with a secret trying to solve a cold case on the last day before retirement. The framework seems to be about having fun with the found footage genre and influencer social saturation versus derisively making fun of it. I don't notice any character type depicted in a mean spirited light.

There's nothing bombastic in the range of look or performance. The interviewees are purposely singularly absurd in their viewpoint but measured delivering their kooky theories. It's not slap stick but nothing close to subtle either. It's pretty good acting but it might be a little off putting if you are in the mood for something a bit more overt.

A movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat, you can feel the love Victoria puts into Lexi, and the crafting of the character. Strongly Recommend.