BITS 2016: Our Review of ‘Streamer’

Posted in BITS 2016, Festival Coverage, Movies by - November 26, 2016

Jared Bratt and Vincent Pun’s Streamer opens with a scene with Jared (Bratt) recording himself, asking the internet why he’s alone. I wanna make fun of him. I’m in the same boat but at least I know why. The sad lonely man with no self-awareness is not the most sympathetic figure in contemporary history. But there’s something here. We as an audience make assumptions about other adults. They shouldn’t scared of the world but they are, and Bratt expresses that fear physically. He has the raccoon eyes and twists his lanky body around to convey a figure both afraid and monstrous.

Like any man with an internet connection and too much time on his hands, he stumbles through an internet cam site. To those of you who are unaware of this phenomenon, cam sites are places on the internet. It’s a kind of sex work, no judgment there, which is how he encounters DreamGirl69 (Tanya Lee). This story could go in two ways, echoing our society’s paradox. She’s a Warholian icon, a hot woman in a big sea of two billion cams. Now he can either dispose of her or obsess towards her, and because we need a story he does the latter.

Most of these cam models, regardless of gender, are probably from some other side of the world. The kicker here is that while he’s in his apartment’s laundry room he sees a woman who looks exactly like DreamGirl69. The candy tastes sweeter the closer it is in his mouth. Bratt and Pun capture this story handsomely, even reminding of Xavier Dolan’s tendencies of wild colors. The directors expanded this film from a short that has become one of this film’s final scenes. But as I say with most new Canadian filmmakers, the concepts still need some more work.

  • Release Date: 11/26/2016
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While Paolo Kagaoan is not taking long walks in shrubbed areas, he occasionally watches movies and write about them. His credentials are as follows: he has a double major in English and Art History. This means that, for example, he will gush at the art direction in the Amityville house and will want to live there, which is a terrible idea because that house has ghosts. Follow him @paolokagaoan on Instagram but not while you're working.
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