zumo-16908

It started out fine, but then got worse and worse as it progressed, all the way down to a point where I just wished it was over and started fast forwarding. As some reviewers have pointed out, the movie is historically quite inaccurate, but truth to be told that is the least of the problems and is soon forgotten. All characters are stereotypical one-dimensional caricatures, who's exaggerated voices and grotesque overacting almost reaches YouTuber "reaction" levels - for almost two hours straight. It is so awkwardly goofy that you kind of wonder if they actually tried to make a comedy film but forgot to include the jokes and the funny parts... or perhaps forgot to remove some of all the profanity and violence in order to market it for children. Both alternatives would have made this film better. The subject of the film with its bureaucratic contracts, soviet union, and a boomer gaming suits an adult audience, but the silly script and acting would fit way better in a children's movie. Beyond me how anyone "allowed" to watch R-rated films could enjoy this.

And at first I did wonder why there were so many oddly positive 9 and 10 star reviews of this. How could anyone express such uncritical and extreme joy over something so blatantly bad? Until I remembered that most viewers are probably fanboys who paid for Apple TV.

I give it two stars instead of one, in order to reflect the happiness I felt when the film was over.

Tetris is a good game, not a good movie.

If you have never heard of unfiction, ARGs or "house of latitude", then this documentary will make very little sense. Some of the critical reviewers here thinks that this is a mockumentary, which it actually is not. Granted, there are a few reenactment scenes, but they work well for illustrating what the participants would have experienced. The people in this documentary participated in a sort of role playing game, where they pretended to be members of a secret society seeking to change the world. To begin with they did not know that this secret society was pure fiction and entertainment, hence some of them were not sure what was going on and if they were joining a cult. A bit like how entering an escape room, without knowing that it is an escape room, would confuse you even though the point is that you are supposed to have fun. These events really did happen. The documentary however does not explain this at all, and if you do not know about what this type of entertainment is or who Jeff Hull is, then everything will seem like pure nonsense. If they had added 15 minutes in the beginning to explain some of this, then it would probably make a lot more sense, and seem less like a seriously messed up mockumentary.

If you _do_ know, and perhaps even enjoy, unfiction and ARGs, then this documentary is really great and pretty much essential viewing. It evolves around subjects like what makes people interested in such, and the kind of unique experiences they can bring to participants. I think it is especially noteworthy how both the players and the creator(s) of "Latitude" tell us what made the experience great, and what could/should have been better. It is rare that unfiction/ARG pieces are as big and elaborate as in this example, but regardless it does a good job telling how you as a creator need to think a bit ahead and look at things from above once in a while, in order to avoid serious flaws. I think Jeff Hull made something really great and unique with "Latitude", but instead of only criticizing the participants for the downfall, it would have been nice if he had also looked a bit inwards. It could have been avoided with a few simple adjustments IMO. Just because you are kind enough to give people free drinks, does not mean that those people owe it to you to ignore any shortcomings that you yourself is responsible for. Jeff makes fantastic creative and social experiences, but a business man he is not.

I watched the first episode, and it was 40 minutes of uneventful boredom. 40 minutes ought to be more than enough to present at least a sub plot that would make someone watch episode two, but no. Nothing happened. Even the snow storm failed to pick up. Got to be one of the worst pilot episodes ever. Maybe the show makes an epic comeback later on (at least to justify the high IMDb average rating), but I really cannot be bothered. This is definitely not a new "Home for Christmas". Zero stars for story and storytelling, three stars for realistically reproducing the boredom one experiences when waiting 40 minutes for a flight out of Oslo Airport.