In 2018, filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov premiered his latest film at the South by Southwest film festival. Bekmambetov – who had recently taken to producing experimental genre films like Hardcore Henry and Unfriended – was trying his own hand at directing such a feature, bringing together elements of computer screen cinematography with contemporary issues of politics and social media. Now, more than three years later, Profile finally brings its myriad issues to screens both big and small.
Amy Whittaker (Kane) is a freelance journalist in search of the biggest story of her career. After using a fake Facebook account to catch the attention of ISIS recruiter Bilel (Latif), Amy commits herself to the role of Melody Nelson, a British teenager who recently converted to Islam. As the conversations between Amy and Bilel escalate from Facebook chats to Skype conversations, Amy is soon caught up in Bilel’s world, and learns firsthand how easy it is to have someone prey upon your unhappiness.
Over the past decade, more than a few genre filmmakers have dabbled with screenlife films, or films that take place entirely on monitors and mobile devices. The best examples of this genre – such as Aneesh Chaganty’s Searching or Blumhouse’s two Unfriended features – understand the experimental nature of the medium, and layer a thin storyline over a series of well-executed computer screen set pieces. With Profile, Bekmambetov sets his sights higher, aiming to root his feature not in demons or hackers but in the digital infrastructure of modern terrorism. It’s a terrible miscalculation.
How are we meant to reconcile the central premise of the film, that ISIS recruiters prey on young and inexperienced women, with the fact that Amy is supposed to be a seasoned freelance journalist? The entirety of Profile sits in service of its format, often requiring Amy to run through a series of increasingly insulting decisions to give Bekmambetov new opportunities to experiment with onscreen interfaces. The notion that Amy might fall in love with Bilel during her research would be insulting if one could be bothered to take it seriously. Journalism – and women – are not this script’s strong point.
Imagine watching Orlando von Einsiedel’s Syrian war documentary The White Helmets as a 3D release and you may have some understanding of the identity crisis at the heart of this film. There are pieces of Profile that work – Latif is a magnetic screen presence, and his charisma goes a long way towards offsetting the fundamental miscalculation at the center of the movie – but even he can only do so much. Those obsessed with first-person and screenlife films may want to explore Profile from a strictly technical standpoint, and they are welcome to do so. Everyone else can avoid it entirely.
This article appears in May 14 • 2021.