Review: ‘Creative Control’ takes a well-aimed skewer at the New York hipster crowd

Writer-director Benjamin Dickinson sets his film “Creative Control” squarely within an ecosystem of bearded New York hipster bros that anyone who’s followed American independent cinema over the last 10 years knows all too well. But Dickinson weaves in science-fiction and satirical elements that make his movie fresher than the competition.

The filmmaker casts himself as David, a prickly, pill-popping advertising executive specializing in cutting-edge campaigns. Nora Zehetner plays his yoga-instructor girlfriend Juliette, whose values increasingly diverge from her partner’s.

SIGN UP for the free Indie Focus movies newsletter >>

When David starts working with an “augmented reality” company, he uses its virtual realty devices to create an idealized avatar of his best friend’s fiancée, Sophie (Alexia Rasmussen). As he escapes into fantasy with her, he puts his career and relationships in jeopardy.

Dickinson doesn’t spare anyone from criticism in “Creative Control.” Self-indulgent artists, crunchy slacktivists and careerist corporate stooges all get poked, often in digressive scenes that are well acted and dryly witty.

And while the director’s depiction of our perpetually distracted culture is nothing new — and his Stanley Kubrick homages cross the line from sly to distracting — the movie’s crisp black-and-white images and subtle integration of fictional technology successfully make the recognizable modern world look exotic.

Most important, “Creative Control” is funny and imaginative, where many films of this type are dispiritingly plain. Dickinson finds a new way to skewer his generation: by imagining them as remaining shallow and status-obsessed in the not-too-distant future.

-------------

‘Creative Control.’

MPAA rating: R, for strong sexual content, nudity, language and drug use

Running time: 1 hour, 37 minutes

Playing: The Landmark, Los Angeles