REVIEW: ‘LifeHack’ Proves Screenlife Films Are Still Ripe With Potential

Screenlife films — films where the entirety of the film plays out on a computer screen — are not new. Ronan Corrigan‘s LifeHack may be the latest outing, but Pierre-Paul Renders‘ Thomas in Love predates it by over a quarter century, having premiered all the way in 2000 when the Y2K scare had just completed. Michael Costanza‘s The Collingswood Story brought the genre to English and introduced a horror element, demonstrating the format’s potential. And screenlife became proper Hollywood fodder in 2014, when Nacho Vigalondo‘s Open Windows and Leo Gabriadze‘s Unfriended demonstrated that the films could attract major talent and box-office success.

One of Unfriended‘s producers was Timur Bekmambetov, then known primarily for directing films like Wanted and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Bekmambetov took to screenlife like a fish takes to water, going on to produce and/or direct more than a half-dozen more films in the format. He’s been responsible for screenlife’s highest highs (Searching) and lowest lows (War of the Worlds, Mercy). And now he’s producing the genre’s first heist film.

LifeHack centers on Kyle (Georgie Farmer), a London-based loner with impressive hacking skills. He never leaves his room, and his only friends, Petey (James Scholz), Alex (Yasmin Finney), and Sid (Roman Hayeck-Green), are people he’s only ever interacted with online. The group’s idea of a good time is playing video games and trolling people they think deserve it. Their latest mark is Don Heard (Charlie Creed-Miles), a tech billionaire and cryptocurrency enthusiast with a Bitcoin fortune just begging to be stolen.

There are some notable real-life influences throughout LifeHack. 

Their first heist goes off without a hitch, and the quartet steals a modest enough amount for Heard not to notice. Soon, they’ve expanded their operation to other crypto-rich individuals, operating firmly under the radar until one former mark tracks them down and threatens their freedom if they don’t agree to participate in a larger heist. Now the group is forced to set their sights back on Heard, only this time to take everything he has.

The script, co-written by Corrigan and Hope Elliott Kemp, makes no efforts to hide its real-life influences. Don Heard is very obviously based on Elon Musk, complete with an estranged influencer daughter (Jessica Reynolds), Dogecoin memes, and awkward appearances on the Joe Brogan podcast (this hurts me personally). Considering Heard only appears in the film’s most dramatic scenes, this helps quickly establish him as the combination of powerful and incompetent that the story calls for.

Notably, LifeHack doesn’t make the effort most screenlife films do to play out entirely in real time. This is both refreshing in its originality and powerful in its effect. Tension is still there when it counts, but allowing characters to step away from the keyboard does wonders for cementing stakes or allowing an emotional moment to breathe. It also bolsters the believability of the heist, allowing for planning, travel, and good ol’ fashioned waiting as the heroes move closer to that big score.

Ronan Corrigan shows that there’s plenty of potential left in this screenlife genre. 

It also allows for far more character development than screenlife films often see. LifeHack is exceptionally well cast, and the more traditional narrative structure allows these performances to shine. The chemistry between the primary ensemble is outstanding, with the more intimate scenes pairing Farmer with Finney or Farmer with Scholz, especially so.

Having the narrative unfold over a longer period allows each character to exist beyond the film’s heists. It gives audiences glimpses into the quieter human elements that really make the journey worth watching.

Screenlife films get a bad rap because, frankly, a lot of them are bad. It’s easy to write off the format when it produces films like War of the Worlds and Mercy. LifeHack shows that there’s still plenty of exciting new potential to explore on this front. Even outside of its place within the screenlife genre, the film is an excellent debut for Corrigan and a powerful testament to the capabilities of its cast. If you’re only going to watch one film in the genre, you could do a lot worse than this.

LifeHack is now playing in select theaters.