Page 32 - S/ Summer 2021

ART
32 • SMAGAZINEOFFICIAL.COM
CRITICAL
Director Gia Coppola’s sophomore film Mainstream begins through the erratic smartphone camera lens of protagonist Frankie. Her finger briefly obscures a series of shots of
L.A.: a flashing “SALE” sign, a colourful storefront display of wigs, and her own shadow.
When Frankie, an unfulfilled twenty-something bartender (played by Maya Hawke), happens to meet Link, an eccentric twenty- something drifter in a rat suit (played by Andrew Garfield), she records a video of him and uploads it. When the video garners more likes and comments than anything she has previously uploaded, she becomes determined to partner with him in a quest to become Internet famous.
According to Coppola, the film’s title was inspired by a conversation with a friend who worked with influencers. “They had such a massive following,” says Coppola, “but from what we consider the mainstream, no one really knew about them, and [my friend] had said, ‘They’re so mainstream, mainstream doesn’t even know it yet’, and that always stayed with me.” Ultimately, Coppola says, “the film was trying to understand how we find authenticity in the mainstream.”
LENS
Gia Coppola’s Mainstream is a welcome commentary on the dangers of influencer culture. BY NAJMA ENO
Andrew Garfield as “Link” and Maya Hawke as “Frankie” in Gia Coppola’s MAINSTREAM. Courtesy of IFC Films. An IFC Films Release.