Real Life, the new documentary feature from Julian Sol Jordan, is a fascinating dive into the psyche of Generation-Z with Jordan serving as both the voyeur and the subject. Real Life is simultaneously raw, meandering, aggravating, and beautiful, much like real life. 

Documentaries covering the filmmaking process like Hearts of Darkness and American Movie explore the circumstances and obstacles of creating a movie but, in wonderfully meta fashion, Real Life operates without a safety net and documents the filming of the documentary itself. That is to say, the plot both exists and doesn’t exist at the same time. It is an inward look at the desire to create.

Allow me to jump to sweeping generalizations of Generation-Z for a moment. These are the digital natives who have never known a life without internet and whose every move has been recorded and posted since birth. Gen-Z are perpetual content creators and with that non-stop cycle of creation and consumption comes a unique set of side-effects. Where Boomers and Millennials perhaps knew a few people who were sad or bi-polar, every single member of Generation-Z knows a multitude of peers who suffer from depression, panic attacks, or anxiety. The ubiquitousness of social media gives everyone a voice but most people have nothing to say, which is absolutely fine. But, because the platform is there, there is a compulsion to speak. Wanting to say something and wanting to have something to say are two different things. 

Back to Real Life. There are so many selfie shots, mirror shots, and voiceovers regarding Jordan’s emotional reaction to the state of the film that is about him. At one point, as he questions abandoning the film, he wonders if the project is worthwhile or merely vapid. This is a self-awareness that many of the most popular creators and influencers seem to lack. Eyes are the camera to the soul and Jordan makes frequent direct, prolonged eye-contact with the camera. This camera on camera action reflects the recursive nature of the film and begs the not-asked-enough question, does this have value for other people or is this just for me?

Scattered throughout the documentary are sequences brimming with absolute electricity. These scenes blend the confusion of youth with the punk rock need to spill all possible, potential energy onto the floor. These scenes are cathartic. They pierce the veil of angst and reveal to Jordan an axiom, “To film you must live.” If Real Life focused solely on the chaos and debauchery, it would just be covering ground Harmony Korine covered thirty years ago. Instead, it leans into the cringe, the self-doubt, and juxtaposes that against how beautifully virile and violent real life can be. 
 
I imagine anyone not born in Generation-Z will watch Real Life and spend a decent amount of time vacillating between curiosity of where this is all going and frustration with the general ethos seen from Jordan and his peers in the film…and I think every member of Jordan’s generation will watch and understand exactly what he’s going through. Real Life is a generational film that shows, without judgement, the reality of youth of today while also serving as, perhaps, a personal indictment of allowing himself to be tangled in the thick of it. 

Near the film’s conclusion, Jordan’s mom delivers, to her baby boy, a warning wrapped in a mother’s embrace, “Don’t get lost.”

Don’t get lost.

Don’t get lost.


peace,
daniel