SXSW 2025 Review: LIFEHACK, Raw Humanity, Vibrant Storytelling

Yes, it's a screenlife thing, but that's only its vibrant method of storytelling.

Lifehack
The film enjoyed its world premiere at SXSW 2025.

The raw humanity of the four leads is what drew me in. That, and its incessant energy, as opposed to overkill.

Under the aegis of producer Timur Bekmambetov, screenlife has become a recognized style of visual storytelling that tends to be divisive. (See our own Kurt Halfyard's interview with the producer for more context.) Personally, I've never been a huge fan of the style. To be fair, neither am I a huge fan of 'found footage' or 'fake doc' movies.

Good movies are good movies, though, no matter the style their makers decide upon, and Lifehack is a good movie, despite (or because of) its screenlife style. No surprise, Timur Bekmambetov is one of the producers, but what appeals to me most about the movie are the characters.

As he revealed in the post-screening Q&A, director and co-writer Ronan Corrigan knows the world well. He and co-writer Hope Elliott Kemp structure the story around the relationship between four friends who spend many of their free waking hours in front of a computer screen, playing games, engaging on social media, searching for information on the internet, and so forth.

They're all of similar age with similar goals, a shared interest in cryptocurrency, and a heartfelt desire to wreak havoc upon the online lives of malicious hackers. One night, they are again complaining about the sour antics of one particular, egotistical, insufferable, and preening tech billionaire (Charlie Creed-Miles) when they hatch a plan to steal a relatively small sum of money from his crypto wallet.

Initially, their motives are not strictly financial. It's more like pushing themselves forward: can I really do this? Am I smart enough to outsmart that smug tech billionaire bastard? And, hey, our friend really could use that money to pay for his college tuition!

The interplay between the foursome -- Kyle (Georgie Farmer), Alex (Yasmin Finney), Sid (Roman Hayeck-Green), and Petey (James Scholz) -- feels genuine and grounded in reality. The actors have great chemistry, which is a credit to their authentic performances, the spot-on dialogue in the script, and Corrigan's direction.

Even though they are not connecting physically, they are engaging emotionally with one another, so that the audience's focus is not restricted to their screens, but instead is directed to their eyes, faces, and upper body language. (This also applies to Jessica Reynolds, who plays the tech billionaire's daughter and somehow gets wrapped up in things.)

Paced like a lightning storm, the action unfolds across four screens and a multitude of devices. It is always easy to follow and remains consistently engaging, which is a credit to editors Ronan Corrigan and Sasha Kletsov.

Emotions are never lost in the blizzard of imagery, especially as tensions rise to an unfair level. It feels like Lifehack begins to attack the nervous system, so that my blood pressure started rising and a palpable sense of excitement surrounded me.

Maybe that's just me, maybe it was the screenlife effect on a big screen with booming sound at the Alamo Lamar. Or maybe it was Lifehack, disabling my defenses and leaving me open to a nerve-jangling experience.