INFAMOUS
US, 2020, 98 minutes, Colour.
Bella Thorne, Jake Manley, Amber Riley.
Directed by Joshua Caldwell.
Audiences will be thinking almost from the start of this film that it is a 21st-century replay of Bonnie and Clyde. But, while Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway seemed glamorous even in their crimes and their going out in a blaze of gunfire, this couple seems in no way glamorous despite the desire of the central character, Arielle (Bella Thorne) wanting to be the epitome of glamour and fame.
The film focuses on Arielle, at home in Florida, her friends, her mother, her seemingly dead-end life, her being on social media, continually posting, wanting to be famous. She encounters Dean, living with his alcoholic father, on parole.
Arielle is able to persuade Dean to break parole and go off with her to seek fame and fortune, fame through social media, fortune eventually through robberies. And she is filming and posting all the time. Dean, despite his conviction for armed robbery and violence, seems to have the potential to be something better but continually succumbs to Arielle despite his better judgement.
This is particularly the case with Arielle and her gun, their being pulled up by a policeman and her shooting him, the various hold-ups and again, her violence with the gun. She says she has been careful to not show their faces on her social media postings – and, she is absolutely delighted with the number of followers and likes that she continues to accumulate. She seems to be fulfilling her ambitions – but has set the bar particularly low (while she thinks it is very high).
There is an episode when Arielle and Dean need a lift, a passerby stops (a young African- American woman) who then confides that she is an avid follower, some excitement in her lonely life and unfulfilled ambitions after her education, who drives them, accommodates them, covers for them when they pass through a roadblock. And the pathos is that this young woman has achieved something of her ambitions simply by her encounter with Arielle.
Eventually, the police will be closing in on them. And, they get tied up with a group of bank robbers, Arielle and Dean participating in a hold-up. There is a shooting. Arielle is filming. And, the police tracking the social media and turning up outside the bank. Violence and mayhem including the death of Dean.
In the film finishes where it opened, Arielle with her phone, texting and posting, just waiting for the police to arrest her. Fame as notoriety seems to be enough.
The film seems geared to a younger audience who may be in the vein of admiring this social media celebrity. While there is some satire and moral judgement on Arielle, she is a completely unlikeable character, audiences having little or no sympathy for her.
