The Thinning Film Review

'The Thinning' is one of very few films directed and produced by YouTube Red, a company still within its early staged of launch. Despite the company having a very small amount of content out there, you can recognize why their numbers are growing exponentially due to its high quality cinematic productions such as The Thinning. Through my research, I found that YouTube red in itself costs slightly more than Netflix or Amazon Prime, which I found myself questioning considering the lack of films produced under their title. However, due to YouTube itself growing in consumers by day, it is almost inevitable that they will be looking to produce 'the next big thing' to keep audiences online engaged in their content.

Whilst this film in particular is based upon an post-apocalyptic thriller that has the likeliness of becoming as successful as other young-adult thrillers, such as 'The Hunger Games' and 'Passengers';  I found that the lack of originality let this film down as certain scenes almost mirror other films produced earlier within 2016. However, I have to comment on the use of the metaphoric meaning behind the plot pulls attention on the importance of the education system examinations and this is one portion I have never seen within a film of this genre. This works tremendously well in a film like this as it allows the viewers to grasp such a thickening narrative yet still creates enigma from scene to scene.

 The entire narrative concept behind this film is based upon the empowerment of the Education system being rigged in order to keep the popular alive and to kill off any rebellions, reflecting how where humans stand within society today. The rich aren't imprisoned despite their malicious and devilish acts; the celebrities still do what they want and everyone seems happy. Whereas the whistle-blowers in society try to survive on the bare minimum in such a ludicrous society that has become their reality. The unusually cruel system accurately depicts the unjust and inequitable conditions that the lower class suffer implying that meritocracy is a myth as people with excess capital will always have an advantage. This was the main feature of the film that had me on the edge of by seat throughout as it is something I personally can relate significantly too. One specific part that did this within the film was the use of kindergarten children (ages 3-6) having to be a part of such a horrific test to get rid of the failing 5% population in America.

 Despite having an alluring plot, other successful thriller films (such as the ones I mentioned earlier) have more influence within the box office than The Thinning due to marketing techniques and casting decisions. The conventional use of a strong female lead in this film has such an emancipating affect on a female audience, which provides the audience (and more specifically me) with a fresh cinematic experience, which has slowly come into modern day since the early 2000s.

The unique characterisation decisions made by YouTube Red has to be congratulated as I have to admit, when considering the films main characters are YouTube stars that have begun to gain such a large social media coverage on a platform that caters to young teens. Which may put off a huge amount of viewers as they would assume that the film lacks originality and can be seen as incredibly cliché, however I trust that the directors have managed to pull off a commendable feat. The film features a short love story between two teenagers(Blake and Ellie) which has been introduced to the audience very simplistically as it shapes their characterizations in the film allowing the viewers to categorise them very quickly when watching. The film begins with what seems like a prohibited relationship between Blake and Ellie, which then is conflicted by Ellie failing the test and Blake therefore fights for her release. This is where I believe the plot begins from as Blake is shown through livid emotion by the use of close-ups and para-language, which therefore causes a disequilibrium within the narrative as Blake feels the need to resolve the problem. The minimalism that is labelled to their relationship works well in Blake and Ellie's character development because the audience can relate to them.

Conversely, there are many minor details that fail to bring this movie up to the standards of any other award-winning thrillers. You have to wonder why many students take backpacks in to take a test on a tablet, and why the film only focuses on one school. However, I do understand that the directors have tried to keep the image of stereotypical representations of American education visible so that the audience can grasp the platform of film it lays upon. I also question to why students before and after the test seem to be either lackadaisical or seem to wallow in self pity due to their fear of failure. They seem very emotionally inconsistent about the fact that many students will be put to death a mere hour or after the test answers are announced. Furthermore, I feel that the film has suffered a massive missed opportunity in exhibiting the lives if students, parents and teachers who live this everyday by not fully committing to their lackadaisical reaction for comedic affect at the start of the narrative. This would add several more layers to the film as it would stand out to the everyday YA film and give the film a sadistic tone in the sense that the audience would find the slaughter of hundreds of children entertaining, creating more emotional impact when they feel the anger of Blake as they realize that life is not a game anymore.

I also found that the simplicity of script throughout was almost aggravating. There were no memorable lines within the whole film and everything else was slogans you would hear in already existing films. Making this film hard to connect with characters on an emotional scale.

The setting and content of the movie also contains some paradoxes, such as -----, however due to the low budget and lack of resources, this is understandable and should be expected. While morally speaking, culling of the inferior is always questionable at best; there are many examples of how other people have tried to commit similar atrocities with a somewhat rational logic. Objectively speaking, if someone has to die in the film, it should be one placed within the proletariat. For example; killing the old and infirm like Hitler did, he is not necessarily classed as a protagonist by any stretch of the term but the choice he made was 'logical' as they can no longer produce anything for society. However, with the contrast of killing 5% of a young generation, somehow the main character's mother, someone whom I believe is terminally ill and appears quite unproductive doesn't make it onto the narrative, it therefore comes across as a forced sob story that doesn't correlate with the context of the film at all.

If I am honest, when seeing this advertised on YouTube adverts, I was thinking that this was going to be another cliché movie that I would know the ending within the first 5 minutes of the opening scene, however I was really happy to discover that the movie incorporated many real world solutions in the seams of the plot that kept me interested. Yes, admittedly there are a fair few scenes that are undoubtedly cheesy, yet as the plot is fairly unique and the story is told well through narrations, it takes away the unoriginality factors. All in all, this really is a great movie and I do believe that it does mainly target at young-adults, as it does requires you to understand the metaphor behind the narrative, however; it is a prodigious watch to all those interested in a teen-thriller like this one and is a film I would definitely recommend.