Hyperland

At the start, Hyperland does not really tell you where you are, or what kind of a world your characters are inhabiting. But as a viewer, you realise very quickly that a single central element shapes its world: A social networking system on which everyone is watching everyone, all the time, in a non-stop social currency & surveillance scheme, controlling all aspects of life. At first glance, the system - which directly projects into the brains of those connected to it - looks a lot like the things we know from social media: It's all about likes and approval from the people that virtually surround us. But very soon, the film shows how misguided such a system can become once it turns on you: When grave injustice is done to the central character Cee, Hyperland does not pursue the evildoer - instead it goes after her, the innocent victim. The remainder of the film is the pursuit of a remedy: What can Cee do, now that she's been ostracised by a collective of everyday spies. The film asks uncomfortable questions that everyone who has a profile on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter should be able to relate to: What does it mean when we rate and vote and like and dislike, once these systems become as embedded in our world as their makers want them to be? Let's not forget, Mark Zuckerberg just called his corporation Meta. Hyperland is here to show us what might happen, once Facebook really does "go meta".

This film is gripping so many issues plaguing the world today at once: The ubiquity of social media, racism, misogyny, fake news, and our tendency to judge everything and everyone quickly, passionately and on a very thin basis. And it does so through a breathtaking spiral of a story that does not take prisoners and could happen anywhere, anytime, and to anyone.

A prescient, visually riveting and superbly composed piece of art.

Nice German production. The film deals with current issues in a not so unrealistic future dystopia. The story is exciting until the end. And the subtle details only become apparent when you look at them several times. But the obvious things are also implemented fantastically. A very diverse cast and even a brief outline of the meetoo debate. Very brave, but in a good way.

They probably didn't have much budget to produce this, which they try to cleverly hide. But in the end this is a pretentious, rather boring sci-fi vision that adds nothing new. It is long, lacks a professional direction and a good script (one would think that both of those are crucial for a good movie). Hence skip this one, there is better alternatives out there.

What I love about Hyperland is not only the impressive images that are seen in the film and that create a world that seems very unreal and very real at the same time. It is also the variety of issues that we deal with in our own time - hate speech, sexism, misinformation and inequality amongst others - that are dealt with in the film in a way that makes us rethink what we might have thought about these issues before. The movie stands out in many ways and is definitely worth the time.