Thursday, August 11, 2016

Nerve

DIRECTOR:  Henry Joost, Ariel Schuman  LEAD CAST: Emma Roberts, Dave Franco, Emily Meade, Miles Heizer, Kimiko Glenn, Marc John Jefferies, Colson Baker, Brian Marc, Ed Squires  PRODUCER: Allison Shearmur SCREENWRITER: Jessica Sharzer, based on a novel by Jeanne Ryan  CINEMATOGRAPHER: Micheal Simmonds  EDITOR: Madeleine Gavin, Jeff McEvoy  DISTRIBUTOR:  Lionsgate  GENRE: Techno-thriller, drama  LOCATION: United States  RUNNING TIME: 96 minutes
Technical assessment:  4
Moral assessment:  3
CINEMA rating:  V14
Extrovert high schooler Sydney (Emily Meade) eggs on her sidekick Vee (Emma Roberts) to join “Nerve”, an app where joiners may be either “watcher” or “player”.  Watchers pay a subscription fee while players complete dares to get paid out of the watchers’ pot.  Watchers vote on the dares players are assigned to do.  If players reject or bail on a dare, they’re out, but if they complete a dare, their cash prize goes directly into their bank account.  They’re also provided an option to go on to the next round.  Tired of being a wallflower, Vee joins as a player.  Her first dare is to kiss a stranger at a diner.  The charming guy he kisses, Ian, has actually been planted there to complete his own dare, dancing on the tabletops.  Their chemistry is cheered by the watchers; from then on Vee and Ian team up for more dares, each one more deadly than then last.
In keeping with its theme, the directors used every trick possible to keep the movie’s energy level zooming high, its visuals distinctive, and its soundtrack pulsating.  This is most apparent in (spoiler coming) the dare that has the motorcycle driver whizzing
blindfolded through New York’s crazy traffic.  It would be next to pointless to nitpick on the technical aspects of Nerve.  Its compelling story told in breakneck speed more than redeems the minor technical flaws.  The fact that Nerve can get the viewers to be emotionally involved, to care for the characters as though they themselves were Nerve watchers, means that whatever technical skills the film needed to deliver its message, Nerve supplied.
Nerve resounds with a loud voice of social commentary.  It takes us into the darker realms of cyberspace while keeping track of what’s happening in the real world.  Its Philippine debut coincides with the introduction in the country of the location-based, augmented reality game Pokemon Go, giving us a foresight into the perils of such games.  While involvement in the Nerve app initially offers players and watchers fun (like Pokemon Go), a deeper look into the motivation of Nerve players reveals serious issues concerning self-image.  Why would young people venture into death-defying dares at all cost? Young people in Nerve tend to yield to peer pressure, and would not think twice about endangering their life—defying authority and common sense—for easy money and internet fame.  CINEMA will not reveal Nerve’s ending; suffice it to say that it is clear enough for the film to be given an Acceptable moral assessment.