Afterschool opens with prep school student Robert (Ezra Miller) watching some unsavoury pornography on his computer. After that he and his room-mates watch a video of two girls fighting that someone had taken on a phone and posted online. Later Robert joins an after school club based around film making. While randomly shooting an empty hallway in his school, he captures and witnesses a terrible event involving two students where he is the only other person on the scene. A perhaps firm comment on how this informational age is desensitising our youth, Afterschool is essentially the story of a young boy trying to grasp the difference between what he sees online and real life. This is evident in a scene when he is alone with girlfriend Amy (Addison Timlin) and tries to emulate with her the porn video he was watching at the beginning of the film.
The events that happen throughout are shot with an almost emotionless realism. Director Antonio Campos opts to remain a fly on the wall, mostly sticking to one long static shot after another that characters move in and out of. This proves very effective and emulates the emotional distance in which Robert and his friends keep themselves when watching videos online. That’s not to say that the film has no conscience at all. Head teacher Mr Burke (Michael Stuhlbarg) remains a constant voice of reason throughout and represents the difference in ethics between his generation and that of the young stars. Robert himself also shows morality during a phone call to his mother where he tells her he doesn’t like the person he is becoming. This moment is a rare glimpse into his psyche that is usually behind a wall of repressed rage at aimed at everything around him. This tension soon mounts up towards the end of the film though when he finally confronts the source of his antagonism.
It’s not very often America produces a film with this much unflinching realism. Campos has created a fantastic piece focusing on the trials of growing up in the modern world, an awesome debut.
4/5
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