Ingrid Goes West

Ingrid Goes West is a 2017 American black comedy-drama film directed by Matt Spicer and written by Spicer and David Branson Smith. The film stars Aubrey Plaza, Elizabeth Olsen, Billy Magnussen, Wyatt Russell, Pom Klementieff, and O'Shea Jackson Jr., and follows a young woman who moves to Los Angeles in an effort to befriend her Instagram idol.

Ingrid Goes West
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMatt Spicer
Produced by
Written by
  • David Branson Smith
  • Matt Spicer
Starring
Music by
CinematographyBryce Fortner
Edited byJack Price
Production
company
  • Star Thrower Entertainment
  • 141 Entertainment
  • Mighty Engine
Distributed byNeon
Release date
  • January 20, 2017 (2017-01-20) (Sundance)
  • August 11, 2017 (2017-08-11) (United States)
Running time
97 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$3.3 million[2]

The film premiered in competition at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival,[3] where it won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award.[4] It had a limited release in the United States on August 11, 2017, by Neon, grossing $3 million. The film received positive reviews, with many praising the script, dark themes, humor, and performances.

Plot

Ingrid Thorburn is a mentally unstable young woman in Pennsylvania. After discovering on Instagram that an unrequited friend of hers named Charlotte did not invite her to her wedding, Ingrid crashes the reception and pepper sprays her in the face. She then undergoes a brief stay at a mental hospital.

After being released, Ingrid learns of a social media influencer named Taylor Sloane from a magazine article. Beguiled by her seemingly perfect life, Ingrid comments on one of her posts and receives a response from Sloane. With an inheritance of over $60,000 from her deceased mother, Ingrid decides to move to Los Angeles to become friends with Taylor. Upon arrival, she rents a house in Venice from Dan Pinto, an aspiring screenwriter. She visits Taylor's regular hangouts and restaurants, and gets a makeover in her style.

After running into Taylor at one of her favorite bookstores, Ingrid follows her to her house and kidnaps her dog, Rothko. After Taylor puts up "lost dog" posters in the neighborhood, Ingrid returns Rothko, meeting Taylor and her husband Ezra. Ingrid accepts their offer to stay for dinner. The next day, Dan lends Ingrid his truck to help Taylor move some items to her home in Joshua Tree, on the condition that she return that evening to take a part in a table read of his screenplay. She tells Taylor the truck is her boyfriend's. They stay out late and party, and on the way home Ingrid damages the truck while driving under the influence. She returns it the following morning, causing Dan to cancel the table read.

Ingrid's friendship with Taylor grows as they begin to regularly hang out at galleries, restaurants and shops. After a while, Ingrid arrives at Taylor and Ezra's house and unexpectedly meets Taylor's brother Nicky, a recovering drug addict. Taylor dismisses her previous plans with Ingrid to attend a party with Nicky, furthering Ingrid's disdain for him. Taylor and Nicky tease Ingrid about her "imaginary" boyfriend Dan, whom they've never met. They invite Ingrid to a party that weekend at fashion blogger Harley Chung's house and tell her to bring Dan.

Ingrid apologizes to Dan for damaging his truck, promising to reimburse him and take him out to dinner. Later that night, after bonding over their past losses, the two have sex and begin a relationship. Ingrid invites Dan to Harley's party and asks him to tell everyone he's her boyfriend. Once there, Ingrid becomes envious of Taylor and Harley's friendship. She also begins to realize that several aspects of Taylor's persona are fabricated. Nicky finds Ingrid's phone with incriminating photographs that reveal her obsession with Taylor, and blackmails her for money. In retaliation, Ingrid pays a stranger to punch her in the face and tells Dan that Nicky did it. She begs him not to call the police for fear of what Nicky might do, and instead convinces him to kidnap and terrorize Nicky to keep him quiet. Nicky escapes his bindings and attacks Dan, leading Ingrid to stun Nicky with a crowbar. After Dan is hospitalized, Ingrid tries to call Taylor, but Ezra answers and tells Ingrid that Nicky has told them what happened, that Taylor does not want to hear from Ingrid again, and that she would have been arrested if Nicky had not been trying to hide his own crimes.

Desperate, Ingrid moves into the small house next door to Taylor, using the last of her inheritance. Unable to pay the bills, she eventually loses power at the house. After noticing a Halloween party at Taylor's house, she dons a bed sheet and wig and crashes the party to charge her phone. When discovered, Ingrid berates Nicky, Ezra, and Taylor. Taylor responds that because of her façade, the two were never truly friends, and suggests Ingrid needs professional help. Bereft, Ingrid retreats to her home surrounded by lit candles and records a video for her Instagram page, confessing her past deception before attempting suicide by overdosing on pills.

Ingrid survives after Dan sees the video and calls emergency services. She wakes in the hospital to learn that her video has gone viral, and thousands of strangers have responded to her hashtag #iamingrid to show support.

Cast
  • Aubrey Plaza as Ingrid Thorburn, a mentally unstable woman with attachment issues, obsessed with social media.[5]
  • Elizabeth Olsen as Taylor Sloane,[6] a popular, narcissistic social media influencer with whom Ingrid becomes obsessed.
  • O'Shea Jackson Jr. as Dan Pinto,[7] an aspiring screenwriter and Ingrid's landlord who falls in love with her.
  • Wyatt Russell as Ezra O'Keefe,[8] a painter and Taylor's husband.
  • Billy Magnussen as Nicky Sloane,[8] a recovering drug addict and Taylor's brother.
  • Pom Klementieff as Harley Chung,[9] a fashion blogger.
  • Hannah Utt as Nicole
  • Joseph Breen as Garth Lafayette
  • Angelica Amor as Cindy
  • Meredith Kathleen Hagner as Charlotte Buckwald, a woman Ingrid forms a one-sided friendship with.
  • Charlie Wright as Chuck
  • Dennis Atlas as Buck

Production

Principal photography began on July 11, 2016 in Los Angeles and wrapped August 12, 2016 in Joshua Tree, California. A focal point of the film is "All My Life" by K-Ci & JoJo; initially this song was meant to be Seal's "Kiss from a Rose" (which would have tied into the Dan character's Batman obsession, as it's from the Batman Forever soundtrack), but Seal's asking price for the song was higher than the production could afford. Spicer's sister recommended "All My Life" as a replacement.[10]

Release

Ingrid Goes West had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2017. Shortly after, Neon acquired the North American distribution rights to the film.[11] It was released on August 11, 2017.[12]

Box office

Following several weeks in limited release, the film went wide on August 25, 2017, and grossed $3,019,057 from 647 theaters, an average of $1,208 per venue.[13]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 86% based on 191 reviews, with an average rating of 7.14/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Led by strong performances from Aubrey Plaza and Elizabeth Olsen, Ingrid Goes West delivers smart, topical humor underlined by timely social observations."[14] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 71 out of 100, based on 39 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[15]

Accolades
Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) and nominee(s) Result Ref.
Sundance Film Festival January 28, 2017 Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award David Branson Smith and Matt Spicer Won [16]
Deauville American Film Festival September 8, 2017 Grand Prix Matt Spicer Nominated [17]
Florida Film Critics Circle December 23, 2017 Best First Film Ingrid Goes West Nominated [18]
Austin Film Critics Association January 8, 2018 Best First Film Ingrid Goes West Nominated [19]
Guild of Music Supervisors Awards February 8, 2018 Best Music Supervision for Film: Budgeted Under 5 Million Dollars Maggie Phillips Nominated [20]
Online Film & Television Association February 18, 2018 Best Feature Debut Matt Spicer Nominated [21]
Independent Spirit Awards March 3, 2018 Best First Feature Ingrid Goes West Won [22]
Best First Screenplay David Branson Smith and Matt Spicer Nominated
Chlotrudis Awards March 18, 2018 Best Actress Aubrey Plaza Nominated [23]
gollark: I know there are heuristic algorithms, I don't know about ones for Manhattan distance sadly.
gollark: oh dear.
gollark: Is this for CC?
gollark: I'm also called [REDACTED]!
gollark: Although I do have 10 hours of maths lessons per week⸘/‽‽

References
  1. "Ingrid Goes West". Sundance Film Festival. The Sundance Institute. Retrieved June 10, 2017.
  2. "Ingrid Goes West". The Numbers. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  3. "2017 Sundance Film Festival: Competition And Next Lineup Announced". Sundance Film Festival. The Sundance Institute. November 29, 2016. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
  4. "'17 Sundance Film Festival - Award Winners". Sundance Film Festival. The Sundance Institute. Archived from the original on October 27, 2017. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
  5. Ford, Rebecca (August 1, 2016). "Aubrey Plaza, Elizabeth Olsen to Star in Dark Comedy 'Ingrid Goes West'". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
  6. Kroll, Justin (August 1, 2016). "Aubrey Plaza, Elizabeth Olsen to Star in Dark Comedy 'Ingrid Goes West'". Variety. Penske Business Media. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  7. Shaina411 (August 13, 2016). "O'Shea Jackson Jr. Joins Cast Of 'Ingrid Goes West'". The Source. The Northstar Media. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
  8. Ash (August 9, 2016). "O'Shea Jackson Jr, Billy Magnussen, Wyatt Russell join Ingrid Goes West". Moviehole. Archived from the original on August 10, 2016. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
  9. Sneider, Jeff (August 17, 2016). "New 'Guardian of the Galaxy' Pom Klementieff joins 'Ingrid Goes West'". Mashable. Ziff Davis. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
  10. Goldstien, Meredith (June 19, 2017). "Aubrey Plaza talks about her new movie — and Instagram — at Provincetown festival". The Boston Globe. Boston Globe Media Partners. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
  11. Fleming, Mike Jr. (January 22, 2017). "Neon In Mid-7 Figure NA Rights Deal For 'Ingrid Goes West': Sundance". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved January 23, 2017.
  12. Raup, Jordan (January 22, 2017). "Ingrid Goes West Sundance 2017 Review". The Film Stage. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  13. D'Alessandro, Anthony (August 25, 2017). "The Hitman's Bodyguard' Tries To Deflect Hurricane Harvey & Mayweather-McGregor". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media.
  14. "Ingrid Goes West (2017)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  15. "Ingrid Goes West Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved August 24, 2017.
  16. Nolfi, Joey (January 29, 2017). "'I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore' Wins Top Sundance Prize". Entertainment Weekly. Time. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
  17. Keslassy, Elsa (September 9, 2017). "'A Ghost Story,' 'Menashe,' 'The Rider' Win Prizes at 43rd Deauville American Film Festival". Variety. Penske Business Media. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  18. FFCC (December 20, 2017). "'The Shape of Water' Leads 2017 Florida Film Critics Awards Nominations". Florida Film Critics Circle. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  19. Miller, Neil (January 8, 2018). "2017 Austin Film Critics Award Winners". Austin Film Critics Association. Archived from the original on January 9, 2018. Retrieved January 12, 2018 – via Medium.
  20. Variety Staff (January 11, 2018). "Sufjan Stevens, 'Greatest Showman,' 'Girls' Among Guild of Music Supervisors Awards Nominees". Variety. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
  21. "22nd Annual Film Awards (2017)". Online Film & Television Association. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  22. Ramos, Dino-Ray; D'Alessandro, Anthony; Grobar, Matt (March 3, 2018). "Jordan Peele's 'Get Out' Leads Inclusive Spirit Awards Ceremony— Complete Winners List". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
  23. Colford, Michael (March 19, 2018). "'CALL ME BY YOUR NAME', CALLED OFTEN AT 24th CHLOTRUDIS AWARDS". Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film. Archived from the original on April 2, 2018. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.