SHARE? offers a kind of variant on the “found footage” tradition, in this case, a man (Melvin Gregg), later identified simply by the number 14, in a cell whom we witness through a camera within a computer screen. We read the screen backwards, and see the number of people “sharing” while he performs or interacts. He can type messages, some of which get him more viewers. Once he starts “performing,” dancing, singing, doing voices, and rolling around on the floor, he is given more clothing, an air mattress, a towel and toiletries, and eventually even beer and a pizza.
The lights go out when he attacks the screen while drunk and angry. We hear, more than see, him have a breakdown in the dark. He apologizes to the camera, and after debasing himself the light come back on. But when they do, we meet “another dude in a room” (Bradley Whitford, who immediately amps the energy up), AKA 6395873, who explains, sort of, the situation: entertainment is the only currency. All the captive individuals must entertain, lecture, perform, or otherwise gain attention from those watching. Slowly the man is shown other trapped individuals. At first the film focuses on 14 and 6395873. They teach each other how to be more entertaining so as to pass the time and be rewarded with more stuff. They are then joined by a woman (Alice Braga) AKA 52695011, as well as a younger, flirtatious woman (Danielle Campbell), a seeming Yoga instructor who wants to empower 14 while 52695011, noting how popular 14 has become, wants him to work to free the trapped people.
The film is interesting for a story-in-a-bottle: the set consists of six identical cells decorated slightly in different ways. The characters can only interact through the screens. We come to know 14 and the two women, but the build to the climax seems to lack the punch that was intended. The film plays as an extended episode of The Twilight Zone, and some of the extraneous elements could have been removed, so it feels padded to make it feature-length. Having said that, all the performances, especially those of Gregg and Whitford, do make the film eminently watchable, if not entirely satisfying at the end, which does provide a Twilight Zone-esque twist.
Given the claustrophobic nature of SHARE? (the screen keeps the audience trapped in an even smaller cell than the prisoners, so to speak), the themes of the film leap to the fore. The idea of entertainment, and debasing one’s self for likes and shares is certainly the literalization of a metaphor in an age of social media. Given that 14 is a Black man, it is easy to see resonances of a culture in which Black trauma is being offered as entertainment, and he must “perform” for reward. The weight of the social implications of the film are present, but do not overwhelm the film, and again it is the strength of the performers that the themes are demonstrably present but not overpowering.
