Depending on how you use and interact with it, social media can be a hellscape. Whether it be watching the same YouTubers each day, listening to that new up-and-coming music artist you hope stays underground, or following your favorite actors’ every waking move, the celebrities and influencers that we love to watch and react to can define our day. Our relationship to online media develops over time into a parasocial relationship, making us think we relate to these people on a personal level,  sometimes wishing we could actually be friends with them in real life. Sometimes, this relationship leads more into obsession than admiration, and that is what Lurker, Alex Russell’s debut feature that recently featured at Fantasia Fest, attempts to convey. 

Lurker follows Matthew (Théodore Pellerin), a retail shop employee who has a chance encounter with rising popstar Oliver (Archie Madekwe). During their interaction, Oliver takes a liking to Matthew and invites him to his show that night. Matthew then infiltrates his way into Oliver’s inner circle. As Matthew gets closer to the budding star, access and proximity become a matter of life and death. The relationship starts as a mild-mannered friendship, but as we come to realize Matthew’s true colors, it slowly devolves into codependency. 

The first two acts of Lurker’s story are very strong, developing not only Matthew and Oliver’s friendship but also the relationships Matthew tries to build with others in Oliver’s circle. Matthew becomes a yes-man for the group so that he stands well in their good graces, hoping to get more responsibility amongst the crew. But achieving this responsibility is a bumpy path. Shai (Havana Rose Liu), a member of this crew and Oliver’s manager, is the only one in the group (besides Oliver) who is nice to Matthew. 

As time goes on and Matthew becomes more acclimated, he starts to become too comfortable. He sabotages certain people to make himself look more prepared, trying to become Oliver’s favorite person. I wasn’t sure if the third act would meet the highs of the first two, but I was sorely mistaken. Russell saves his best tricks and ideas for the final act as the power dynamics of this relationship flip on its head. The film’s brilliant final shot explains the film’s idea so well in just one simple scene. 

In his directorial feature debut, Russell — most known for his work on the hit television show The Bear (2022-), where he has written some episodes and produced a majority of them —  is able to portray complex relationships and dig into the bones of what people do for one another. Matthew exploits certain aspects of his newfound friendship to boost his own morale and self-esteem, using his friendship to get him higher on the totem pole. This is sort of the backbone of what The Bear is all about as well, so it makes total sense that Russell was able to weave such nuanced ideas into this screenplay. It slowly unfolds before it hits you square in the face. Once you realize how chaotic this all could end, it’s a scary idea to think that you know someone just because you follow them through a screen. That admiration can lead you into a deep loneliness, feeling like the only friends you have are the ones you watch on screen.

Buried and unkempt emotions threaten to billow out, causing harm to the people around you. 

Russell’s direction helps this intricately packed narrative work extremely well. The use of mostly handheld camera work lets us sit with the characters and feel what they are feeling, as if they are sitting across from us. Which, in a way, is a meta look at what this story is really about, yet another underlying layer that makes this film great. Switching between the handheld and the use of a home video camera for certain sequences adds to this sense of emotional prescience. 

Lurker’s strong and assured direction makes me intrigued to see where Russell goes next. He clearly has a strong grasp of the modern-day internet and the way we build relationships today in our current culture, so I hope he explores those ideas from different lenses in his future films.

The performances throughout the film make these ideas sing, and it cannot be overstated how good Pellerin is in this role. He plays the part to perfection. Watching him slowly devolve into madness is a sight to see, and the switch he has when the power dynamics are shifted is beautiful. He commands the screen with such intent and makes the scenes have such great tension, and I cannot wait to see what he does next. 

Madekwe, who is most known from his roles in Saltburn (2023), Gran Turismo (2023), and Midsommar (2019), also deserves his flowers here, as he turns in the best work of his short career. While he was the lead in Gran Turismo, Lurker allows him to flex more sides of what he can do. He shines the brightest when toeing the line between bubbly and haunted, playing Oliver with such a vibrant and happy exterior that obscures the quieter moments where insecurity and the need for approval take hold. 

Lurker is one of the best movies to come out so far this year, and it is a special highlight of this festival. It accurately portrays the climate in which young people of this generation go about exploring the internet, and it shows how hard it can be for people my age to make new friends when everything you need is in the palm of your hand. The loneliness this causes you to feel affects your outside relationships, and a movie hasn’t been accurate in conveying that special brand of loneliness until this. 

I would not be shocked if this were to go down as a modern classic. Lurker should be taught in schools for the impact it has and the insights it conveys, and the impact it had on me as a 22-year-old is profound. 

Lurker, which comes out in theaters on August 22nd, is a movie you won’t want to miss. 

Review Courtesy of Jacob Diedenhofer

Feature Image Credit to MUBI via The Hollywood Reporter