There is no greater praise I can give a film than saying it kept me awake until midnight on a work night. I'd implore you to find this movie how I did; stumble into it by accident with as little knowledge as possible and just enjoy the ride.

-- Possible plot spoilers beyond this point --

A fascinating kaleidoscope of voyeurism, modern technology and the erosion of privacy; an open critique about how people have curtailed their own lives and personalities to obsess over those of others. Everything has lost all meaning, and when real connection is presented, it's alien and an annoyance. We’re constantly chasing the next thrill in relation to those we’ve become obsessed with, a parasocial nightmare in its most realistic depiction. We’ve handed our lives and thoughts over to digital entities at the price of ourselves, and while the main character remains an enigma, it’s hard not to see ourselves in her complete submission to her online fascinations.

It feels trite to compare this to Mr Robot, but I think the comparison cannot be left unsaid. The locked focus on technology, common hacking techniques and contemporary occupations as well as the grim, almost seedy feel of a recluse at the helm of a computer and an internet connection felt lifted directly from Sam Esmails playbook, and I enjoyed it just as much here as I did over there with Eliot and E Corp. I’m a sucker for these movies that show they have more than a surface understanding of how technology and hacking is done in the real world, and while some liberties are taken with the movie's AI assistant, it never feels hard to follow or get too overwhelming.

Such a great movie, one that I’ll keep around and watch again when the intricacies of the plot have begun to erode from my mind, only to be enthralled by it and its unhinged protagonist once again.