Playdurizm is truly a surreal and dreamlike directorial debut from Turkish director/ actor Gem Deger.
One day, teenager Demir (Gem Deger) finds himself caught in a glitchy-glitzy reality with his on-screen male idol. He does all he can to be possessed by this man and ignores each of the many violent clues of how he got there, eventually causing Demir to uncover the truth about himself.
One of Playdurizm’s strongest aspects are the visuals that give it a very unique look. Its use of neon colors around each set makes it stand out from many other films. They also help give it an otherworldly feeling, like something that could only be found in virtual reality. However, sometimes the colors can be a distracting, especially whenever the camera would do a 360 rotational shot or a slow motion shot.
Another area where the film works is in the music department, with sci-fi and music that viewers can find in a retro video game, complementing each of the visuals to a great effect. The acting throughout the film, with Gem Deger and Austin Chunn leading the cast, is very strong.
While it does have some nice visuals, it really suffers from having a very weak and confusing story. Scenes just sort of stop and transition without much rhyme, or reason to anything. The story also has an underwhelming ending that makes the rest of the movie feel kind of pointless.
Also, the film tends to rely heavily on a lot of shock value with none of it adding anything to the story. At times, it is very uncomfortable and extremely gross.
Overall while Playdurizm may appeal to a very selective audience. It does have some fascinating visuals that get brought down heavily by a weak story.
