American Sweatshop (2025)

American Sweatshop (2025)

I had pretty much lost hope in the cinema of 2025… and now a new film has entered my top 10 favourites. I would put it alongside Companion, Echo Valley, Together, and Frankenstein. Delivery Run and Dangerous Animals are decent too.

I often dismiss new directors without giving them a second chance after a very bad first film. I often say that they would be better off becoming builders, chefs or taxi drivers rather than damaging cinema, because in my harsh opinion, they are not going to improve. It’s cruel and subjective, I know! But Uta Briesewitz will not be one of those people.

Well, she had already been director of photography on Session 9 (2001), which is Brad Anderson’s worst film. I rather liked The Silent Hour (2024), Stonehearst Asylum (2014) and Transsiberian (2008) and especially The Call (2013). Perhaps if Briesewitz had directed it, it would have been better?

Uta Briesewitz, born in 1967, is a German filmmaker and director. This film is her first as a director. She is also the executive producer. It is written by Matthew Nemeth and produced by Barry Levinson and Tom Fontana.

What a great idea to cast Lili Reinhart (best known for the series Riverdale in the lead role. We see her as a social media content moderator who is deeply shocked by a violent crime she sees in a video while she is at work.

Without giving too much away, this film is one of those that breaks the fourth wall. This means that one or more actors look at the camera and make contact with the viewer, who can theoretically see the characters but cannot be seen. The fourth wall is also broken in films as diverse as Eden Lake (2008), Calibre (2018), Funny Games (1997) and its remake Funny Games U.S. (2008), Deadpool (2016), Fight Club (1999), Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986), Psycho (1960) and also GoodFellas (1990). The Marx Brothers did this too!

I have deep respect for this film, which reminded me of the excellent 8MM (1999). Here, it’s the same: we don’t know what’s true and what’s false. We feel the unease, the horror and the atrocity, but the film doesn’t show too much. Neither in terms of sex nor violence. It’s bearable… but probably still not for the most sensitive souls.

So many questions! This film made me ask a lot of them… and I love that!

What is tolerable? To what extent can we take justice into our own hands? Are we really thinking about the victims, or do we simply want to be heroes by bringing criminals to justice, even if it means going to prison ourselves? Who decides what is fair?

Is killing an animal for pleasure or for food any different? How is it more acceptable?

The internet… what is it really? Is it just a bunch of people, ultimately, and nothing else?

Can you do a job where you track down the most shocking videos without ever throwing up? Would a psychopath easily do this kind of work? And, if so, is a psychopath necessarily a criminal? Note that if someone is in danger, they will not react, because it just won’t affect them!

There you have it!
Of course, this film will not provide all the answers, because it is also good to debate and philosophise with oneself after seeing works of art.

There are secondary characters who are not very well developed, but interesting enough to like or dislike.

There is also an alligator in this film that is very symbolic. Depending on where it is, the danger in our own lives may change direction. Or at least in the life of the main protagonist. She does her best with her demons. But some traumas never go away. No matter how much we express them, go to a relaxation room or colour in… sometimes you have to be really strong.

Deep down, I don’t know exactly what the director wanted to show with this alligator. Perhaps she left it up to the imagination to decide. Or not to decide, because some will see this creature as useless and won’t ask any more questions. I think those who hate the film will go so far as to say that it was just filler to fill the void in the film. What a sad analysis! And a very simplistic one at that.

Lili Reinhart is impeccable in her role as a tortured, vengeful character with a great thirst for justice. She is a very human person with her weaknesses, flaws and strengths. I rewatched certain scenes twice, or even more… and each time, I understood her sometimes ambiguous reactions better.

Yes, I could talk about it for hours, but you know enough to decide whether you want to see it or not. It’s not a horror film, nor is it science fiction. It’s not a romantic comedy or an action film. It’s a decent dramatic thriller, without unbearable suspense, extreme violence or torture scenes, and frankly, I’m very happy to see a film like this still being made today.