'Fair Play' Review: Buy Into This Psychosexual Corporate Thrill Ride [TIFF 2023]
‘Fair Play’ - NETFLIX’s NEWEST ACQUISITION hints at a very different future for streaming.
Coming out of Sundance, and subsequent purchase by Netflix, ‘Fair Play’ was one of Toronto International Film Festival’s more anticipated selections. The debut feature film by Chloe Domont and two intense performances Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich are sure to have people talking to say the least. It follows a couple who work at a hedge fund in New York that must keep their relationship private as it goes against workplace policy. While seemingly having a healthy relationship, things get emotional when Emily (Dynevor) gets a promotion at their firm for which Luke (Ehrenreich) thought he was in line for said promotion. The events that follow turns Luke into an unravelling mess and Emily into a severely overburdened superior trying to navigate the dynamics between her managerial colleagues and her new fiancé.
For the most part, everything that transpires in the film is very well crafted from a script point of view that only gets elevated by the engrossing performances of the two leads. Relative newcomer Phoebe Dynevor more than holds her own when sharing the screen with Ehrenreich, who, after a quiet few years post ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ is finally garnering more roles that he clearly deserves. most recently you can see him across Robert Downey Jr. in Christopher Nolan’s box office hit ‘Oppenheimer’. Ehrenreich in particular shows a vast amount of range as he goes from a regular character, to a revolting sociopath. Keeping the viewer engaged throughout this transition without overacting would prove difficult for most seasoned actors, but Alden does it with a slickness and confidence that should be commended by all who watch. For her part, Dynevor takes on more of the protagonist role, while not being so clear in the beginning, but by the end, cheering for her every move and hoping for her to find herself by the end of it all. Some of the decisions that the characters make along the way can be hard to digest but these two actors flow seamlessly through the near 2-hour runtime to keep the viewer engaged for the entire course of the film.
When touching on topics of internalized misogyny, power imbalance, jealousy, and boundaries never feel preachy or insincere. The movie mostly feels subtle in its intention while still giving a very high stakes, high tension atmosphere. The world of finance seemingly works as a perfect realm to craft a story around these things because of its seemingly cutthroat boys club culture. It works in the favour of the story to have everybody be, for lack of a better term, assholes. The movie does take some dark turns that can feel a bit rushed and almost unfathomable to some. Although, to that point, we aren't watching two normal people living a normal life and it doesn't feel out of the realm of possibility for people who work at a hedge fund in New York to act like this. The issue more lies with its overstimulating amount of events that happen in what feels like a very short amount of time. The beginning has Luke being seemingly a normal functioning guy and in a matter of what feels like a week, it turns him into a diabolical sociopath. But even with its odd pacing, the tension never let up and has you dialled in with every second of the movie. That being mostly a credit to the superb performances of its two stars.
As summer draws to a close and people start to hibernate indoors, the streaming services look to capitalize with their latest products. The service that stands on top of the mountain (although not for long it seems anymore) is Netflix. Back in its hay day, Netflix was a haven for up and coming filmmakers to showcase their talent that wouldn't previously be taken on by studios. Even veteran directors like Alfonso Cuarón, Spike Lee, Noah Baumbach and even Martin Scorsese took to the streaming service to showcase their newest venture. If you go on Netflix nowadays, you wont get much in terms of original content besides the odd dating show that is trying to find new ways to psychologically torment its contestants. Or its trying to promote a licensed show they didn't make like ‘Suits’, which, oddly enough, may help Netflix to find an audience for this new movie. This may interest fans of ‘Suits’ who like a peek into the world of a slick workplace drama. This movie serves more as a thriller than a drama though and takes a certain level of comfortability with serious topics to be able to watch. Hopefully, with it’s success on the platform, Netflix will go back to giving more artists a creative domain to showcase their newest works. But with all that aside, if you decide to give this one a shot, just make sure it’s not for family movie night.