Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: COMPLIANCE [Fantastic Fest - Austin, Texas]
The aspect of conspiracy structure depends on the nature of what is being targeted. Compliance by writer/director Kyle Mangione-Smith uses the would be Screenlife motif in a consistently manipulative way but outside of the Timur-backed world. In a way he makes it more politicized (and with the use of some established footage) lends itself, especially in the last half of the film, into a more inherent "Fight Club" structure but without the ID complex. At the inset Sam (Megan Wilcox) working for an AirBnb-like UVisit is trying to help contain and help an assault situation that happened to Sarah (Lindsey Normington). But Sarah doesn’t want to talk or is seemingly hiding something. Sam wants to protect her but seems unable to convince the girl to open up. From there, Sam's effectiveness is questioned by her CEO but there seems to be cameras watching her in her home but we are not sure if those are simply our perspective or something more. Of course it is the latter. Somehow the crisis of this specific IPO going public is attached to a political race keyed into the presidency...and this assault case could undo it. Somehow the outside force focuses in on Sam. Wilcox plays it with strength but also an ever increasing hysteria. In that way it resembles "Arlington Road" as well. Beyond getting cut off from one person, she eventually has to lean into a certain inevitability. Mangione-Smith wants to key into the digital world ofc today but oddly enough his bitmapping and scrambled strategy as a digital motif seems to refract more analog. That is the space that slowly undoes this film because there is a bit of a gap. It is supposed to mask intention and even an AI avatar which is an interesting conversion tactic/addition should have been something that Sam would have seen through. That said, the double-back on Sarah’s initial structure/approach is interesting since it is two fold.
The idea of why Sarah would move into a different sector seems to have to do with nothing with money. That said, with all the idealization, Mangione-Smith does understand that money rules even if it is wrapped in a certain endgame. Today it is more in the news but people being killed to advance a stronger side has always happened throughout history. The question the movie asks, in many ways. is if we are any more civilized today when it is both harder and easier for people to look over a shoulder. The masked leader pushes Sam to the brink but also stresses that she will be taken care of it. A very telling moment happens when Sam returns to her bedroom after her house has been fully bugged. She tries to call her mom but she is cut off and she cries “I only wanted to say goodbye” which is a foregone conclusion. The climactic play at a downtown office is very efficient while still giving a sense of scope. There are also multiple fronts which are trying to influence the situation by making it into something else. There is talk of going live but it is intriguing if it was mostly a brainwash or just a plant. The epilogue is very "Marathon Man" and is an intriguing bookend in how it shifts power of control...as if control of the situation was ever there to begin with. Between and after this there is a scrambled montage which is a new way to do it but almost again is too analog. It is overbearing yet still inherently powerful. Sam is not a perfect mole or character and she has her flaws but that is what made her an inherent target. She stays buoyed by her moral compass but also her ability to cross some boundaries. "Compliance" of course is also a progression of corporate oversight at a micro level and how ultimately it reflects back with a bit of dramatic license but likely in this day and age, maybe not as much. 83%/B
By Tim Wassberg
