Fyre (2019)
2019
98 Minutes
He promised supermodels and yachts, but delivered tents and cheese sandwiches. How one man engineered a music festival disaster.
User Review
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Fyre reignites the hatred for a certain pathological liar, further fuelling the party fire. The Fyre Festival of '17. An idyllic vision featuring a plethora of musical talent, luxury villas, golden beaches and raucous parties. It was sold to be the music festival of dreams. Yet, as the dangers of greed and wealth have illustrated in the past, expenditure on celebrities and a proposed luxurious enterprise turned one vision into a logistical nightmare. Fyre was extinguished almost immediately. This slickly edited documentary briskly takes us on a journey from conception to production and the end result of a fraudulent business proposition that would go down as one of the worst festivals of all time.
Comprising of interrogation-like interviews with many key members within the marketing, development and production teams of Fyre Media, Smith's documentary is as basic as it can get it in terms of structure. The tension gradually increasing with each passing day, slowly allowing us to realise McFarland's inability to provide the many promises he stated to investors. Only to then unleash the agony built within the festival's guests upon the first and only day of partying when it was immediately cancelled. Probably due to those "luxury" cheese sandwiches and "luxury" tents with gaping holes in them. The baffling lack of basic commodities and accommodation was certainly an eye-opener for McFarland, who expended millions upon millions to which he hadn't even acquired yet. Coercing everyone to believe in his fantastical, yet hugely unrealistic, ambition.
The bulk of this documentary comprises of the festival's logistics and McFarland's peers targeting him for the fraudster that he is. Appropriate? Yes, especially for the uninitiated. Underdeveloped? Absolutely. The pacing is too brisk, leaping over the more important ramifications that the festival caused. The misuse of celebrity influencing and the unpaid local workers should've been at the forefront, using the festival to branch out into socioeconomic challenges that are inherent issues in the modern world right now. Primarily feeling sympathy for the team involved isn't enough to make this documentary thought-provoking or enlightening. Especially if they themselves are acquiring monetary gains from the release of this documentary. Also, the use of the score found in 'Gone Girl' irked me. It didn't suit the footage being shown, and instead distracted myself from the core moral of this failed business opportunity.
Still, from someone who knew a minor amount of details regarding Fyre Festival, it was certainly a brisk eye-opener into the mind of a pathological deceiver and a celebration of the justice system. If only Smith focused on the bigger picture, it could've been longer lasting after the credits rolled. Deleting comments though, that's low...1 member likes this review.
