Ivan Kander

The early moments of a new romance are intoxicating—that honeymoon haze where every moment is galvanic and possibilities seem infinite. But, nothing perfect can last forever, right?

Allie & I from director Tomás Whitmore and starring musician Kyle Harvey and model/actress Kota Eberhardt explores this dynamic but via an abstract lens: the film’s first few minutes establish the idyllic archetype of a seductive and sexy girl only to quickly subvert the notion, forcing us as viewers into a place of tension, confusion, and unease as the threads of its central relationship unravel. It’s a surreal 27-minutes, and like Donald Glover and Hiro Murai’s Clapping for the Wrong Reasons before it (another “very LA”  high profile short from a hip hop musician), it ends up posing more questions than answers.

But, I found it to be an intoxicating cinematic puzzle to lose myself in, sumptuously shot and intricately composed. Whitmore captures a distinctly “Los Angeles” vibe: a place defined by its own glossy sheen of fakery. And, so, with stylistic aplomb, we watch as the protagonist slowly starts to lose his mind, swallowed up by Allie, a physical personification of the toxic narcissism of social media.

Yeah, I know…I’m weary of “phones are bad” shorts too. But, I’ll admit, Whitmore employs an artistry that isn’t often seen in films critiquing social media. As the short progresses, it’s clear that Allie isn’t a person but rather a symbolic embodiment of influencer culture: the voice in our head that compels us to post things for likes and shares. I don’t think anyone would argue the fact that, in many ways, social media has broken us, preying on the inherent human desire for attention and instant gratification: we do things not so much to experience them, but rather, to get the dopamine hit of other people being envious of us experiencing them. It’s a poisonous cycle, and Allie & I becomes a visual representation of someone tumbling down the rabbit hole.

Kota Eberhardt stars as the alluring Allie

It helps that these leads (both major influencers in their own right) are so beautiful and charismatic. It goes without saying that attractive people are staples in both Hollywood and online virality, but, beyond their Instagram-perfect looks, they prove to be adept performers, from Kyle Harvey’s portrayal of the insecure lead on the verge of a mental break to Eberhardt’s bewitching allure. As the film transitions from fantasy to nightmare, Whitmore chooses to artfully hang in close-ups, staging a climatic party sequence from an extremely tight vantage point while the chaos unfolds. The 4×3 aspect ratio, mimicking Instagram’s boxy grid, is surely an intentional choice.

Is Allie a dream? The main character’s fantasy? Simply a surreal representation of online influencer culture as a whole? All of the above?

Really, though, the “answer” doesn’t matter. Rather, both Whitmore and Harvey seem to be probing the core motivations that drive our own online obsessions: this slavish devotion to give so much to these platforms that are designed solely to take.

Whitmore is currently trying to develop Allie & I into a feature. He’s also working on a film about breakdancers set in the early aughts.