Mazey Day
Year: 2023
Directed by: Uta Briesewitz
Starring: Zazie Beetz, Danny Ramirez & Clara Rugaard
Runtime: 40 minutes
Published: 28/06/23
Directed by: Uta Briesewitz
Starring: Zazie Beetz, Danny Ramirez & Clara Rugaard
Runtime: 40 minutes
Published: 28/06/23
There are few professions quite as blackening for the soul as that of a paparazzo. Depending on who you ask they’re the people that put their lives on the line to show us, in photographs, what’s really happening in the world. Or they are vicious animals that’ll do anything to get the shot that’ll net them the biggest paycheck. In the UK the paparazzi have had a bad name for the last thirty years since their direct involvement in the death of Diana Spencer, the former Princess of Wales, who following years of being hounded by the press was eventually killed by them as her driver crashed the car attempting to escape her pursuers.
What could Black Mirror possibly do with a story about the paparazzi? I mean there’s so many moral and ethical quandaries that could be explored, perhaps something about camera technology in the wrong hands? Unfortunately, the reality is far stranger and more removed from Black Mirror than those possibilities.
Former paparazza Bo (Zazie Beetz) has packed in her life of chasing celebrities to catch them in a scandalous light following some revealing pictures she took of an actor that resulted in their suicide. But when film star Mazey Day (Clara Rugaard) goes missing and a reward of $30,000 is up for grabs to snag a photo of her, Bo can’t refuse the financial incentive and joins the hunt for Mazey. Meanwhile, Mazey is unsuccessfully confronting her inner demons.
What could Black Mirror possibly do with a story about the paparazzi? I mean there’s so many moral and ethical quandaries that could be explored, perhaps something about camera technology in the wrong hands? Unfortunately, the reality is far stranger and more removed from Black Mirror than those possibilities.
Former paparazza Bo (Zazie Beetz) has packed in her life of chasing celebrities to catch them in a scandalous light following some revealing pictures she took of an actor that resulted in their suicide. But when film star Mazey Day (Clara Rugaard) goes missing and a reward of $30,000 is up for grabs to snag a photo of her, Bo can’t refuse the financial incentive and joins the hunt for Mazey. Meanwhile, Mazey is unsuccessfully confronting her inner demons.
I have been rendered speechless by a few Black Mirror episodes at this point, but usually it’s because they’re good. Mazey Day marks the first time I was completely lost for words with a Black Mirror episode because of how outlandish and downright weird it was. Black Mirror is known for its unflattering depictions of technology, but Mazey Day doesn’t really have any technology in it, beyond a DSLR camera. I had expected an allegory for the paparazzi being animals, or how cornering vulnerable celebrities could make them hostile, but I hadn’t expected it to be quite as on the nose as this, and it makes the episode kind of laughably silly rather than genuinely affecting.
I won’t ruin the surprise that Mazey Day’s climax has on offer, but at forty minutes it’s the shortest Black Mirror episode by a considerable margin so that should give you an indicator as to how much content there really is here.
Bo doesn’t have much of a character, she’s conflicted between earning good money or being a good person, but that internal battle clearly doesn’t seem to bother her much, and she kind of just takes the money every time.
Mazey isn’t given enough screentime for us to care about her, and the only other character of note is fellow paparazzo Hector (Danny Ramirez) who similarly is not given enough to say or do to really draw any conclusions on.
Part of me likes how brazen Mazey Day is as an episode. It uses the Black Mirror framework to make you think you’re going to be drawn in for this intelligent and provocative tale of greed, fame, and humanity…but instead you get baby’s first horror story, or at least that’s how it’s written. Whilst I don’t particularly like Mazey Day it did at least give me a good laugh, but it has me worried about the future of Black Mirror if Charlie Brooker think’s this is good material.
I won’t ruin the surprise that Mazey Day’s climax has on offer, but at forty minutes it’s the shortest Black Mirror episode by a considerable margin so that should give you an indicator as to how much content there really is here.
Bo doesn’t have much of a character, she’s conflicted between earning good money or being a good person, but that internal battle clearly doesn’t seem to bother her much, and she kind of just takes the money every time.
Mazey isn’t given enough screentime for us to care about her, and the only other character of note is fellow paparazzo Hector (Danny Ramirez) who similarly is not given enough to say or do to really draw any conclusions on.
Part of me likes how brazen Mazey Day is as an episode. It uses the Black Mirror framework to make you think you’re going to be drawn in for this intelligent and provocative tale of greed, fame, and humanity…but instead you get baby’s first horror story, or at least that’s how it’s written. Whilst I don’t particularly like Mazey Day it did at least give me a good laugh, but it has me worried about the future of Black Mirror if Charlie Brooker think’s this is good material.