XOXO: A Vida é uma Festa

Various people are going to XOXO, an EDM music festival in the desert. I want to do drugs. I think it would help. As for the stories, I can take most of them. I would like Ethan to be less dumb or Avilo to be less obvious. More than anything, I want him to say something to the Asian chick. I get that he's not brave enough to challenge Chopper, but he should comfort the girl to show his moral compass. Sure, the movie is trying to give him a character arc, but I need to like him more than this. I am not saying that I hate any of this movie, but some of it is more annoying than being actually funny.

I seem to be finding rather mixed reviews about this movie everywhere and I just felt it necessary to write my own review.

First off, the movie itself has so many flaws that it's nearly impossible to take seriously. I really wanted to like this movie, as I do have an interest in Hayley Kiyoko and Sarah Hyland, and because I love other movies with similar aesthetics (Spring Breakers, for example) but I guess they could only work with what they had. I don't understand why either of them would stoop to this level of garbage, but sure enough they did. Money is more important than substance.

The writing. The writing is so god awful that it's almost painful to watch it play out on- screen. The acting was obviously not top-notch but I blame that mostly on the terrible script itself. The characters were stereotypical and had very little redeeming qualities, not to mention they were so thinly written that you could care less about what happens to any of them. The story itself was also bad; nothing that exciting happened throughout the entire film and there were so many moments that randomly turned into an entirely aesthetic-fueled music video. In addition, the script seemed to find it very difficult to find any balance between negative and positive exploitation of the EDM festival scene. I constantly kept asking myself, "Is this trying to mock festival goers or is it trying to embrace them?"

The only redeeming qualities about this movie was the music (as an EDM fan, I did appreciate the soundtrack choices). The only other thing I would say was moderately decent was the visuals. Many of the visuals were well-done while some were very cheesy, so it was a mixed bag in that department. I was looking forward to this movie and was extremely disappointed because they could have done so much more with the story. Overall, I would not recommend this movie unless you simply want to watch it for the aesthetics, visuals and music. Do NOT expect a good story going into it and you may end up liking it more than I did.

XOXO tells stories about six different people that revolved around an electronic dance music festival. A young DJ, a manager, a hopeless romantic girl, an apathetic man, and a struggling couple. Their paths will collide and somehow, the music festival will brought out their worst and their best.

Plot-wise, this movie is really generic. None of the twists and resolutions are shocking nor original. The same can be say for the characters, as they were taken out of boring overdone tropes that previous movies has. The actors did an okay job, with Brett DelBuono rises among the rest. Sarah Hyland could be much better, given her Modern Family roots.

The visuals in this movie however, are appealing and engaging. Although there are no jaw dropping shots, this movie managed to capture the festival's spirit (which basically just a lot of people taking drugs and jump around til they're tired) just right.

If you like EDM and are looking for visual references, go ahead and watch. Otherwise, save your time. You're really not missing anything.

Dance music is kind of difficult to capture in film. Even portraying dance music in a pop show on television never really works, because outside of a rave club, watching dance music is a bit boring.

Director Christopher Louie in XOXO has gone with a Robert Altman route of six mainly young strangers colliding on the way to and during a rave festival.

Graham Phillips has the main role as he plays DJ Ethan a YouTuber who with the help of his friend and manager Tariq gets to DJ at the festival. However he does not have the necessary passes and the equipment he uses is not compatible with that of the festival. Tariq is unavailable as he gets lost in a drug haze as he has been inadvertently spiked. There is an older clubber who seems to be bitter about something and past business relationships. There is a beautiful young girl who is planning to hook up with someone and a young couple who give their tickets away and then trying to gain entry into the rave. There is a hotshot DJ who leeches the work of younger talent.

It is all shown in bright vibrant colours with lots of young beautiful women and plenty of texting. The music was supervised by Pete Tong and after a shaky opening when you might wonder if this film is for you, it actually settles down pretty well.

Let me start by saying that I am a raver, a DJ, and a straight edge, meaning I don't drink, smoke, or do any sorts of drugs at these events. Just to give you a bit of perspective on where I'm coming from.

Personally, I really enjoyed this movie. It captured very well the many different aspects of festival culture, from the bro-tank crowd, to the slutty girls, to the people only there to take an extreme amount of drugs, to the people who come to enjoy the music and hardly if at all participate in the party scene. The chaos and bliss of walking around a massive, multi-staged arena of people who are just there to enjoy themselves in the best way they know how, dancing to the music that we all love. Even the shocking and thrilling experience of running into your best friend in the middle of a crowd, in a festival with 24,000 people in it, something that has actually happened to me, as unlikely as that sounds. The depiction of PLUR was a bit cheesy, not that there is really a non-cheesy way to portray that element. The film also captured a bit of DJ culture, and the constant struggle between the people who are in it for the music vs. the fame, which I appreciated, although that might not resonate so much with the general audience.

With a solid combination of outright, and background comedy (pay attention to side characters that are being talked over), and serious plot, this movie is a good example of what a 'dramedy' should be. Without spoiling anything, the plot has enough twists to keep you engaged, although it does grow a bit predictable as it goes. Some parts did seem a bit forced, plot-wise, but that's to be expected in film nowadays.

I would have liked if the film had more diversity in the music, as it was almost entirely main- stage house in the soundtrack, but to be fair, that is the only type of EDM that really works with general audiences, so I understand why they choose to stick so closely to the genre.

If you've never been to a festival, do not by any means form your opinion of what they are like on this movie, but if you have, sit back and enjoy, and let XOXO take you back to what is, for many people, the most surreal and magical few days of their entire lives.