Appy Family

Chet Kozlowski — Wed, 16 Sep 2026 21:35:15 +0000

Appy Family Chet Kozlowski September 16, 2026 - 17:35

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A black SUV, windows heavily tinted, drives up to an affluent country estate. A reception line of people stands outside. The car doors open, and young teenagers file out, all blindfolded. What is this, exactly? The last stop on the Lolita Express?

No, the visitors have arrived at this undisclosed location (hence the blindfolds) because they’ve won a contest. They’re here to meet The Perfect Family, as represented on their social media account our_bright_life. They’ve watched Mom, Dad, and Daughter over the years as they play out their life in public.

The visitors sit around an outdoor table. The family is, in their eyes, a paragon of perfection. “We are just incredibly free,” 16-year-old daughter Luca explains, “and do so many beautiful things and such cool trips. And the best thing is we’re paid for being ourselves.” The visitors pepper the family with questions: “Do you believe in cosmetic surgery?” “What do you weigh actually?” A boy tells Luca, “You look different online. Just over-the-top insanely pretty,” implying that in person she isn’t.

The opening of the new film Babystar deftly balances curiosity and WTF. There’s trouble in paradise, of course: Luca has become bothered with the whole influencer thing. Mom counters, “You’re a brand; you just need to use it.”

No less than Odysseus, Luca wants a home. She has grown up under the scrutiny of her parents’ cameras and has reached the age where remarks like that matter. Her parents are healthy, attractive people, well-meaning in their way, who have figured out how to monetize their lifestyle. Dad’s phone is always out, recording everyday events, and immediately posting them. The family’s every move is calculated for clicks.

And then Mom tells Luca that she’s having another baby, who will become part of their cast. Luca rebels.

As Luca, Maja Bons presents as pretty, pliant, and brooding. Mom (Bea Brooks) and Dad (Liliom Lewald) project a benign concern for their daughter. When she acts out in a restaurant, they leave and eat the meal in the cab of their car, vigorously chewing despite the irreverence.

Director Joscha Bongard has taken on a similar topic before in the 2022 film Verified Couple. He has a fine visual sense, icily elegant, framing the lushness of this fantasy life against Luca’s private times, which are shot simply, befitting her ennui. He’s young, a member of the Digital Generation, as attracted to the vlogger life as he is disparaging.

Babystar is well-made but irresolute. Luca’s life is underpopulated, and her frowns and glances are open to the viewer’s interpretation. She could use a sidekick, someone to complain to. Her motorcycling pal Julie (Joy Ewulu) is an entree to an adventurous life, but their meetings are made up of few words and many pauses.

It’s hard to know exactly what Luca wants. Is she after freedom? Independence? Why then imperiously use her celebrity to try to fashion a new family? Luca’s final act is symbolic but head-scratching.

Babystar is billed as social media satire. But satire works best when it’s pointed and warns us of excesses. Babystar is too taken with the bright, shiny images on our phones. In contrast to the vitality of those with her family, Luca’s scenes are long, almost lethargic takes. Maybe it’s only a document of our times, and not a cautionary tale at all. “I’m addicted to validation,” Luca admits at one point. Maybe Babystar is, too.

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Babystar. Directed by Joscha Bongard. 2026. German with English subtitles. Runtime 98 minutes.

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A Crime Spree Just Like Bonnie and…well, Bonnie

Chet Kozlowski — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 18:13:31 +0000

A Crime Spree Just Like Bonnie and…well, Bonnie Chet Kozlowski November 8, 2024 - 13:13

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American Meltdown is a jaunty satire about the way some of us live now. Billed as a "millennial coming-of-rage," it centers on Olivia, a woman who just can't catch a break. She's let go from her job and forced into a "hiatus until I stop qualifying for benefits." After that indignity, she comes home to find her high-end apartment ransacked and herself without insurance and deep in debt (her ex left her with an extravagant lease). Paranoid and uncomfortable in her home, she goes off to the beach, where she meets a wily pickpocket named Mari.

Mari's a former lawyer ("People don't like me once they get to know me") who now runs scams. Mari lives in a van and has perfected the art of taking what she wants when she wants, from the pockets of unsuspecting marks, at the grocery store, and generally in life. Her mantra is, "Do you like your life?" If not, change it. Olivia is at first repelled, then warms to the idea. The straight life isn't working for her, so maybe Mari's path is the one to follow. She asks the other woman to move in with her for protection and because she’s intrigued.

What follows is a mini-crime spree, told in retrospect from Olivia’s police interrogation after the fact. She tearfully relates the circumstances of her downfall and the events that led up to it. Olivia at first sees them as a modern-day "Bonnie and…well, Bonnie," blazing a swatch of delinquency and stickin' it to the Man. Eventually, the cracks in Mari's tactics start to show. She seems less of a free spirit and more of a sociopath. "Your only move is to move," Olivia tells her. But then the real fun begins.

Jacki Von Preysing (Olivia) and Nicolette Sweeney (Mari) are fairly new to the scene and real comedy finds. Ms. Preysing's big eyes and angular features contrast well visually with Ms. Sweeney's more compact, scrappy look. They make an attractive team, have real comedic chops, and are backed by the likes of Clayton Farris as a predatory property manager and Shaun Boylan as a ditzy cop. Christopher Mycheal Watson and DeMorge Brown round out the cast as, respectively, Olivia's ex and her interrogating detective.

American Meltdown takes on the foibles of the system and is genuinely funny. Its script and direction are brisk and intelligent. Writer/director Andrew Adams knows to keep the stakes simple while containing echoes of bigger films. The women's trip to the Grand Canyon is meant to evoke Thelma and Louise, but the violence done in the finale is mostly to real estate. Still, this stylish faux feminist fantasy, Mr. Adams' first feature, is lively, has good jokes and a snappy montage, aided by cinematographer Mark Evans and editor Joshua Cole.

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American Meltdown. Directed by Andrew Adams. 2023. Available in select theaters and on VOD. 82 minutes.