The very first scenes, depicting a young man moving through a shopping mall, immediately establish both the time period and location, and left me uncertain whether the movie would actually "do something." The film utilizes a 4:3 aspect ratio and was shot on film, though it’s interspersed with footage from different cameras—the overall effect is disorienting. From the beginning, there's a feeling of being watched, conveyed through the main character’s perspective – he’s constantly scanning for targets, checking mirrors, meeting people’s eyes – and also by that fragmented, additional footage which *feels* like a recording in a way that the standard film footage doesn't. This act of looking (between characters and at those other clips) quickly reveals itself as a fear of surveillance on the part of the main character. The movie functions somewhat as a coming-of-age story, so this sense of being observed and the anxiety surrounding it is tied to both his potential exposure and his self-discovery. The scenes between Tom Blyth and Russell Tovey possess a remarkable level of intimacy. There's an education in cruising here, along with a clear understanding of masculine closeness during the 90s—nothing particularly *queer* about it, just different. The age difference between the characters also marks their relationship. I’m curious how younger viewers would react to this film, but I suspect concerns about the perceived prudishness of young adults online are exaggerated. That thought, too, brought that interspersed footage to mind—a mix of memory and desire; the internet's ability to both expose and conceal wants, revealing and rejecting things across time. (But what exactly *is* that culture on the internet?) Later in the film—which has been subdued until then, focused heavily on silence and dialogue (and the dialogue is captured very well; there’s a sense of distance as an audience from the people on screen...perhaps it's a technical issue, but it still works)—a single song creates something like a music video sequence, coinciding with the main character experiencing a breakdown about the possibility of being exposed. I don’t feel I have much to add regarding this, though it does propel the film further into that unusual or detached fantasy realm established by those fragmented cuts of other footage. It's definitely not an idealized portrayal of life or memory.

Source on TMDB