Truth can be stranger than fiction, and that’s probably why so many true stories are perfect for the big screen. But when a movie is made and held for such a long time – sometimes the story, while interesting, might have missed it window of relevance?
Focus Features is releasing Profile this week, a movie that was originally filmed in 2017 and was shown throughout the film festival circuit shortly after with an original release date in 2018. But here we are in 2021 and the movie is finally making it to theaters, although smaller audiences. It is the first movie that director Bekmambetov used the screenlife format in – but two later movies released with his format afterwards, making this one – while the original – seem a bit dated.
Profile follows a British Journalist Amy as she tries to use social media to gain the trust of a terrorist recruiter so she can get the story of a lifetime. But in the mean time, she ends up risking not only her job, friendships, relationships but also her own life. The story starts out slow, and the Screenlife format is a bit jarring and hard to get used to. But after a bit, you’ll find yourself pulled into the story and will be invested trying to see just how far Amy will go.
While the story is interesting, I would personally call this movie a thriller. It’s not something that has you at the edge of your seat. And in this work from home world, where we meeting all spend too much time on our computers, phones, and other devices to stay connected with everyone in our lives – watching a movie, which generally a point of escapism, basically in the same format seems counterintuitive and means we don’t get that escape we all so dearly need.
Profile will be releasing in theaters on May 14th.
Overall Rating:
About Profile:
PROFILE follows an undercover British journalist in her quest to bait and expose a terrorist recruiter through social media, while trying not to be sucked in by her recruiter and lured into becoming a militant extremist herself. The unconventional thriller plays out entirely on a computer screen in the Screenlife format, pioneered by Bekmambetov.
