MOVIE OF THE WEEK April 11, 2022: WE’RE ALL GOING TO THE WORLD’S FAIR

Eerie and melancholy, Jane Schoenbrun’s horror-tinged drama We’re All Going to the World’s Fair is both a coming-of-age story and an examination of teens’ use of media and technology. It’s not always easy to watch, but it’s also very hard to look away as main character Casey (Anna Cobb) gets caught up in a creepy online role-playing game whose boundaries and impact are problematic at best and extremely dangerous at worst.

Casey spends hours in her room, physically alone but connected to others, in a way, via the laptop she stares into and makes videos with, sharing her musings and thoughts about a (fictional) infamous MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) called We’re All Going to the World’s Fair. When she finally decides to play, it’s with the knowledge that doing so might change her in some way — that’s what others online have said in the many clips and videos she’s seen, and she’s both excited and apprehensive to see what’s in store for her.

Her videos draw the attention of JLB (Michael J. Rogers), who reaches out to her to try to make a connection and, ultimately, to keep her safe, from both the game and from herself. They interact solely through their computers, though viewers see both “IRL,” as well as bits from other players’ videos, some of which are very unsettling (though never gory). Casey herself seems to be unraveling, though whether that’s due to the game or her apparent isolation is difficult to determine.

Schoenbrun, in her feature debut, gets a lot of bang for her presumably limited buck: She crafts an effective drama out of shadows, lighting, tension, keyboard clicks, and Cobb’s magnetic performance. Her portrayal of Casey — alternately confident and desperately insecure, in control and at the mercy of the screen she relies on to reach out to others — convincingly illustrates the complex relationship that so many teens have with technology and media. Are the kids all right? Not necessarily.– Betsy Bozdech

Team #MOTW’s comments:

Sherin Nicole Art house, meditative, and as distant as a video call with a stranger, We’re All Going To The World’s Fair is a quotidian nightmare. In it, Anna Cobb is a teenager eager to define herself but unsure of what that means, especially as she plunges into the sometimes murky, other times dystopian depths of the internet. The POV is distorted, without answers, other than the ways disconnect unravels us.

Susan Wloszczyna: The Blair Witch Project meets Eighth Grade as writer, director, and editor Jane Schoenbrun’s We’re All Going to the World’s Fair is a sensitive though semi-creepy exploration of internet culture wrapped up in a coming-of-age tale that focuses on adolescent Casey (fab newcomer Anna Cobb), a shy girl in the boondocks who decides to take on the film’s titular on-line challenge in the middle of the night. When we first meet our young protagonist, she is alone save for her favorite stuffed monkey toy from her childhood during an eight-minute webcam shot as she faces her laptop screen on her desk amid her neon-lit attic bedroom. The movie relies on webcam perspective and smartphone shooting in many clever ways. Read full review.

Pam Grady: A teenage girl living a troubled life in the real world seeks community and adventure in the titular online role-playing game in writer-director Jane Schoenbrun’s intriguing narrative feature debut. Ostensibly a horror movie in which a naïve kid immerses herself in a world that promises transformation, the real horror isn’t in the game but in the world the girl encounters whenever she leaves her bedroom. Read full review.

Marilyn Ferdinand As the most vulnerable members of our society, children and teenagers have an innate interest in things that go bump in the night—their survival depends on recognizing dangerous elements in their environment. The internet has become the new playground where children learn such lessons. Jane Schoenbrun’s We’re All Going to the World’s Fair imagines a horror game that challenges children to join an online community that is trying to get to “the world’s fair” through physical and psychological transformation. As Casey, newcomer Anna Cobb effectively depicts the kind of lonely, withdrawn teenager whose desire to change into someone else draws her to a game that clearly frightens her. Why the older, well-heeled JLB (Michael J. Rogers) starts to follow Casey’s progress as her self-proclaimed protector is something more complicated and potentially dangerous. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair is a creepy, somewhat ambiguous and sad examination of our increasingly fraying connections to each other.

Leslie Combemale We’re all Going to the World’s Fair is particularly immersive, and that’s in large part to the credit of lead Anna Cobb as Casey. It’s not part of the screen life genre, but it still feels like we are part of the World’s Fair platform and Casey’s online life, and it that way, we are more invested in her trajectory of self-destruction. If all it offers as a message is “teens + the internet – parents = disaster or , that would be reason enough for the film to exist, but writer/director goes deeper into the damage isolation and loneliness can do to the human psyche. She examines the challenge of trying to become in a world that prefers us to be undone with unique vision and insight, greatly aided by her star. The film’s last scene creates more questions than answers, but that will appeal to any number of film fans who, like me, appreciate a weird ending.

Jennifer Merin The horror-tinged minimalist psycho-drama. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, is a first narrative feature from writer/director/editor Jane Schoenbrun, whose commitment to personal, art-driven cinema is evident in this slow burner — in some ways a teenage navel gaze — about a girl named Casey whose life is lived on and for the Internet via a disturbingly disconnecting (and self-destructive) Internet game/community — the name of which is the films title — with which she is obsessed and to which she is very vulnerable. Red full review.

Sandie Angulo Chen: We’re All Going to the World’s Fair is a fascinating if difficult-to-watch exploration of a teen girl’s descent into a viral horror internet game. The contemplative, unconventional coming-of-age drama from writer-director Jane Schoenbrun is rooted in the feature debut of actress Anna Cobb, who is mesmerizing as the main character Casey. The director purposely leaves much ambiguity about what’s performative, what’s real, and she adds a layer of even creepier behavior when one of Casey’s online “fans” turns out to be a wealthy obsessive of the creepypasta phenomenon. Alex G.’s atmospheric synth score, and Daniel Patrick Carbone’s close-up-heavy cinematography add to the moody proceedings. While not quite a crowd-pleaser, this is a thought-provoking and evocative film.