It can be difficult to extricate yourself from the world of Instagram. Once you decide to leave, not only do you have to assure the app multiple times that, yes, you really do want to leave, but you might miss all the "characters" you grew to know along the way too. There's the effortlessly cool girl with style to die for, the fitness blogger whose squat routine you adopted for a hot second last summer and the mummy blogger whose adorable baby you see more than your own family.
A new short film tackles this weird, very 21st-century phenomenon head on. Boomerang, by director Matthew Frost and starring Blade Runner's Mackenzie Davis, begins with a young nurse, Jennifer, played by Davis, dramatically announcing that she's breaking up with her phone. “I’m wasting my life liking MEMES and for that reason I’M OUT," she writes, in a scene that will be relatable to anyone who's ever noticed themselves being dragged down by the faux perfection of everyone else's online lives.
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BOOMERANG from Matthew Frost on Vimeo.
But, of course, leaving any kind of social media behind is never as simple as hitting "delete". The morning after, Jennifer wakes up to find a flock of archetypal Instagram influencers in her apartment, all of whom start bullying her to keep following them. "You can't just quit, it doesn't work like that," says the tattooed musician in her bed. A truly modern nightmare.
"I'm the coolest person you follow," insists the cool-girl activist. "Look at you, you're obsessed with me," asserts the French girl who, being French, can do no wrong. "You bought the same beret, remember?"
Boomerang is an ingenious parody of the Instagram world from Frost, who has described it as "anxiety comedy" and, despite its similarities with Black Mirror, he's also said it's 'probably the direct opposite. It's 'Dumb Black Mirror,' but with a straight face!"