Machine Gun Kelly (MGK) has made his directorial debut alongside fellow artist Mod Sun with “Downfalls High,” a 45-minute movie that centers around his newest album, “Tickets to My Downfall,” which was released last September. The movie, however, was released on January 18, which can now be streamed on YouTube as well as MGK’s Facebook page. The album breaks away from the rap music that the artist is known for and instead focuses on a punk-rock sound that would fit the cinematography and overall vibe of his movie. However, while the movie excels in matching its look to its sound, it lacks the natural flow and narrative arc that a movie should have, making “Downfalls High” simply feel like a series of music videos.
With a director like MGK and a cast mostly consisting of TikTok stars, it’s no surprise that there wasn’t too much of a strong foundation and plotline to this film. Buzz surrounding the movie surfaced shortly after the trailer was released earlier this January because of its two stars, “Euphoria” actress Sydney Sweeney and TikTok star Chase “Lil Huddy” Hudson. At just 18 years old, Lil Huddy has amassed nearly 30 million TikTok followers, mostly thanks to his on-again, off-again girlfriend, fellow TikToker Charli D’Amelio. Ashis fame is applicable exclusively to the app, it was quite a surprise to see him land a role opposite to Sweeney, who has a much more extensive acting resume compared to Lil Huddy. The talents of the two were definitely evident in the movie as his — as well as many of the other actors’ — performances were almost laughable.
Trendy e-boy high school student Fenix (Lil Huddy) has the world against him for some unclear reasons. However, the popular girl Scarlett (Sydney Sweeney) takes a chance on him and the two fall in love over the course of one song. This movie has everything that you’d want in a movie targeting a Gen-Z audience: loud thrift shopping, riding in shopping carts and absolutely no parents or any actual high school classes. There is a slight plot twist that is sure to catch viewers off-guard, but unfortunately, this was the only unpredictable aspect of this movie. Although Sweeney is the most experienced of the cast, most of her screen time felt empty as she didn’t have many lines. Lil Huddy sadly lived up to what critics expected from him, as he had no emotion and left no name for himself as an actor after this movie. It seems like MGK decided to cast him only for his hype and not for his skills, and since he was the lead, the movie was weakened as a whole. Another direction in casting could have made his directorial debut much more heartfelt and noteworthy.
this Friday!! https://t.co/Y2bkkl1gZo
⬇️ full trailer 👀 ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/uVcPYkDpcG
— Blonde Don (@machinegunkelly) January 14, 2021
While MGK noted that this would be a first-of-its-kind movie, he failed to recognize past short films centered around artists’ newest albums. For example, singer Melanie Martinez directed her film, “K-12,” in 2019 based on her titular album. There were a few similarities between this movie and “Downfalls High,” as they both were a series of music videos compiled into one long video. Unfortunately, it seemed like MGK focused more heavily on the aesthetic sides of the movie rather than conveying any clear message, marking a clear difference in success between Martinez’s “K-12” and MGK’s movie. The visuals of “K-12” had much more originality compared to the mediocrity of teenage love that “Downfalls High” had. The former movie also focused a lot more on the dialogue of the scenes, rather than the way that MGK focused on his songs. With more dialogue and better acting, there could have been real potential for his movie.
MGK’s focus on aesthetics would explain most of his casting, as performances by Maggie Lindeman and other actors playing high school students were nearly embarrassing. Most of the time, the actors were focused on pouting and modeling to the camera rather than showcasing any emotion, failing to bring any authenticity to the character development of the students. Another aesthetic aspect of the movie was MGK’s decision to switch to VHS style recording randomly throughout the film. However, this style of filming could have aided the movie’s message if it had paralleled its scenes and their meanings. For example, the movie would often cut to MGK and his band narrating scenes through their songs, which may have been confusing to some of the audience. If they decided to use the VHS style of footage when the movie would do these scenes, it would have shown a clear and distinct difference between the plotline and its musical narration. Instead, the director decided to just throw in the fuzzy camera quality sometimes just to achieve his trendy goals of filmmaking. In the end, “Downfalls High” was more of a montage than a movie.
A music video-styled movie would unsurprisingly make little sense as a whole, so the many plot holes would irk any cinephile. It is definitely not the kind of feel-good, popcorn-movie-night kind of film to watch with your friends or family because of its lack of dialogue and overall presentation as an album with some visuals. Therefore, this movie is for a music lover — especially of MGK — and should definitely be viewed as such.
Chloe Geschwind is an Entertainment Intern for the Winter 2021 quarter. She can be reached at cgescwi@uci.edu.
