Cam is a Netflix original about how, “Alice, an ambitious camgirl, wakes up one day to discover she’s been replaced on her show with an exact replica of herself.”
This scene happens later in the movie. The first scene was too cool to spoil!
The movie opens with the main character hosting a live cam girl show. She is interacting with her audience in a similar way that some YouTubers do the live chat during their livestreams. The audience is pledging tokens, similar to Superchat tips.
She does something totally unexpected and I really liked that. It is interesting to see from the cam girl’s perspective.
There is so much to relate to in this movie. For example, when she was watching the other cam girls shows and some of them are doing some super creative things, but the girl who is just sitting there flirting is at the the top #1 spot.
I see that on YouTube. There are people making really well planned out videos and editing movie footage like a pro. They give really great information and really research their topics. I notice that they hover around 5k-20k subscribers. Oh, and they get copyright strikes from movie companies.
Meanwhile there are people who half ass their videos. Don’t research their topic and give out flawed information. Bonus points if they are yelling and making a spectacle of themselves or straight cooning like those long head brothers who hang out in Japanese suicide forests.
Or is that really more of a comment on our society inching ever more close to Idiocracy’s number one show “Ouch My Balls”? We are already there. I just remembered that there is a such thing as fail videos.
Another relatable thing is the pressure to be online a lot. About 6 years ago it used to be enough for a YouTuber to make a video once or twice per week. I think this was the norm because most YTers had jobs and did this as a hobby.
Most recently we have seen a proliferation of professional YouTubers. They are able to produce so much more content than the hobbiest. A great example of this was DJ Akademiks. He was so prolific posting 5-6 times a day. At least he was before Every Day Struggle and his best friend Tekashi69 went to jail.
OK, no more tangents. Back to the matter at hand. (Name the classic rap song, that comes from.)
I love the premise of this movie. This is listed as Mystery, Horror, Thriller, but it is firmly Science Fiction as well. Especially since the threat in this movie is not psychological, and it’s not supernatural, it is technological.
There are lots of Alice in Wonderland references. I can’t even begin to dissect that because you all know that I am not real familiar with Disney stories.
There are also some timeline issues. Online there are theories about the story not being chronological. I disagree. I think they made mistakes with the dates. At one point Alice is looking up info on another girl. One article lists the year of her death as 2014. She scrolls down and in the same shot it lists the year she died as 2015. So, the dates might just be arbitrary.
It has to do with algorithms. I can’t say more than that without spoiling it. I liked how this movie ended. I’ve watched this twice and I still flinch and cover my face when she does a particular thing.
The last scene is very interesting. It speaks to a persons motivations for being a cam girl, a twitch streamer, a YouTuber, or Instagram “influencer”.
As for the technical specs, this movie looks good as far as camera work, lighting etc. The acting is great as well.
The soundtrack was cool too. That title song “Galaxy” by Missy Modell reminded me so much of “Around the World La La La” by ATC.
I really enjoyed this. Netflix movies are getting better and better. I look forward to the movies they have coming out in 2019.
What Did I Just Watch? 