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Currently Playing: NEON BANANA | Omeleto

A man sends pics. Theo has been messaging Melissa, a woman he only knows through Snapchat. Their interaction is turning spicy, and one night, after Melissa sent him some photos, she requests some racy photos for herself. Theo happily obliges. But their online interaction becomes perilous when Melissa threatens to expose Theo's photos publicly -- unless he can come up with a large sum of money. Ashamed and embarrassed, Theo tries to manage the situation on his own, but discovers it is more complicated than he ever could have imagined. Directed by Samuel-Ali Mirpoorian and written by Abdul Seidu and Samuel-Ali Mirpoorian, this short drama is an exemplary psychological thriller of the digital age, focusing on one man caught in a case of "sextortion." Theo's prurient selfies were sent off on Snapchat to a woman he was contacting, and now he is being blackmailed. The film captures not just the surprising, slippery ease of how the situation comes about, but the anxiety and shame around Theo's efforts to contain the situation. The film begins simply enough, with Theo hanging out in his room on his phone, flirting with Melissa over messages, and then indulging her requests for sexy photos. Dramatizing conflicts that happen essentially over electronic communication can sometimes make for static storytelling in film, but the storytelling here is dynamic, quicksilver and textured, with moody naturalistic visuals, a dissonant electronic score and an editing style that flickers between past and present like a mind racing, spinning as it tries to piece together how all this just happened. When Theo is blackmailed over his pics, the film kicks into high gear as he tries to contain the situation and come up with money to keep his pics from being spread. When Theo's friend gets a fragment of the image, he knows the situation is serious. As Theo, actor Abdul Seidu is at turns blase, skeptical, fearful and agitated, as his anxiety grows and he grows more desperate. When he realizes just his private flirtation can be weaponized into public humiliation, he finally faces the scope of his problem. Dark, anxious and compelling, NEON BANANA not only captures the emotional fallout of our uber-connected culture, but it's deft in portraying the unique isolation that underlies many of these digitally based dilemmas and issues -- how the quiet tableau of a man looking at a phone is actually itching with fear. Theo feels profoundly alone as he grapples with being blackmailed, his actions attached to a degree of shame and embarrassment. It also captures how privacy and security are ultimately illusions in such a world -- things we take for granted or assume are already taken care of, but an illusion easily punctured by bad actors. It reminds us not to include our faces in certain kinds of photos, lest we find those images in places we don't want them to. NEON BANANA. Courtesy of Samuel-Ali Mirpoorian at https://instagram.com/workofsam.