Summary
Netflix film The App represents the growing need for a purpose in a world that plants us with intrusive mobile applications and a yearning for love.
Netflix film The App, which only runs for a mere 76-minutes, is a thematic story about the perils of the modern world. Loneliness is the keyword I’d use to describe the purpose of the script; Nick, the lead character, is destined to enjoy the luxury of young love; an actor that has a beautiful partner and the prospect of building a family. Nick defines the generation that can have it all but is crippled by this sense of purpose — a lack of self-love and understanding of who he truly is.
So when his partner asks him to test out her new dating application for data purposes, The App crumbles into a story of spiralling loneliness and a need for gratification. It signals to the audience the growing distraction that is born from mobile applications; the addiction of that glowing phone screen as we become consumed by another conceptual application.
The App is about having it all but on the other hand, having this powerful new yearning that comes from within. A yearning that painfully tears you apart subconsciously and surfaces once the self-destruction spirals into a monster you never knew existed. The Italian film only serves a single purpose — to demonstrate the idea.
And with that, The App has little story but plenty of darkness that follows the character; most of the film follows him as he becomes distracted by the potential of a single woman, outside of his relationship, that seems to have grabbed his attention. Nick forgets his world, his wonderful partner and a career that can elevate him further to stardom. The App is purely a self-destructive tale that leads to a single message for our character at the end.
The App is a gloomy reckoning and a Netflix film you are probably best watching if you are in the mood for a dark undertone of human failure.
