Much and I mean MUCH smarter than the Levinsoncore crowd this film so clearly wants to market itself towards. I mean, this isn't Godard or anything, but I feel like people are being a bit too dismissive with this one...and it's not like its themes are particularly subtle or poorly executed. And maybe it's because I'm of the same generation these characters are, but I didn't think they were completely insufferable. 

Bodies Bodies Bodies is about a lot of things...but I think the most obvious theme is the lack of real communication between young people, and how social media can further those misunderstandings and distrust. There's a number of revelations to be had throughout its 90 minute runtime, but the most underlying one is that none of these characters...really like each other. Even the core couple of the film turn on each other when push comes to shove. And all of that just makes perfect sense to me. I don't know about you guys, but I know a number of zoomers who tell me they don't like someone yet follow and interact with them on social media...just because it's easier to just pretend. Nobody wants to be the bad guy. 

So when that guy you've been dating for TWO WEEKS and the girl you've been dating for 3 months (???) are all possible murder suspects...who do you trust? All you have to go off are a handful of moments in a lifetime of memories, and a well thought-out social media persona. In some ways, Bodies Bodies Bodies can even be seen as an allegory for cancel culture: you're the murderer because I said so, never mind that I don't have any proof to back it up. When the lights are out and reception is gone, all these characters have is their best guess. It makes for a hell of a mystery, even if it perhaps becomes obvious after a certain point. 

I know that when a film comments on social media, it's so easy to dismiss it by saying "WE LIVE IN A SOCIETY" but I think this film is actually saying something substantive with that. There's a scene in the third act where a character accuses another of being "emotionally abusive" which led the character to develop PTSD, and another character who uses her mother's mental illness basically as a way to deflect suspicion off her and I just thought, "jeez, this movie gets it." In the age of social media, so many people have used their mental illnesses or traumas as a way to narcissistically present themselves as martyrs. Which isn't to say that their trauma isn't valid, but it doesn't absolve you of your wrongdoings. And this shouldn't be such a controversial topic...we've co-opted mental illness as yet another way of making everything about ourselves. 

These themes are something that I've always thought but never necessarily seen conveyed or explored in a film until now. Using a slasher whodunit as a backdrop for exploring these themes is pretty goddamn ingenious because that's the kind of movie that still appeals to young viewers decades after its inception. It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea, that's for sure, but I think it's a bit unfair to say it "fails as a social satire" or it doesn't have anything deep going on under the surface.