Wish You Were Here

Big Bubba’s Wish You Were Here delivers a delightfully dark and humorous twist on our perceptions of modern-day internet culture, looking to challenge our preconceptions as to the kinds of people we think are bloating comment threads and message boards with endless controversial statements full of hate and toxicity.

We are immediately introduced to poor Margaret (or Maggy, played by Anne Rosenfeld), an adorable pensioner sitting at home all alone, the crosswords no longer cutting it and unable to even get to the door quickly enough to exchange a couple of words with the delivery man. Seemingly trapped in a sad state of perpetual loneliness and boredom, Maggy retreats into the online world, constantly checking her messages before finally resorting to scrolling through her Facebook pages to try and find some sliver of human connection.

And this is where Wish You Were Here naughtily but brilliantly pulls the rug right from under us. Initially looking to add her sincere condolences on a random post, suddenly, Maggy has a little twinkle in her eye. Backspacing her original comment, Maggy then, with a mischievous smile, enters something a bit more, let’s say, inflammatory. Of course, the responses flood in, the backlash begins, but rather than be deterred, Maggy laps up the attention and gets to work.

Despite the real issue of internet toxicity and vitriol that plagues the world wide web these days (and to be clear, Wish You Were Here at no point undermines these issues) there is just something inherently funny about the idea of maybe your gran being the one you’re arguing with on the internet, and that they’re only really doing it for a bit of fun. Such is the genius of Ken Abalos’ sharp script, managing to allow us to laugh but reminding us we shouldn’t be at the same time. And while we might indeed allow ourselves to chuckle along once or twice at the things Margaret writes (although some of it does come very close to the mark), the film again is always looking to strip those prior judgements most of us will have as to the who and why behind these trolling profiles.

And most importantly, it’s all so captivating to watch, and that’s undoubtedly because of the film’s impeccable technical presentation. After initially leading us into this false sense of security with its sparse score and lighter ambience, as soon as Maggy starts barreling down the rabbit hole, the film darkens, the score pierces and unsettles and cinematographer Harvir Gill moves to such a compact view of Maggy’s eye-widened, delighted face (an amazing performance from Rosenfield as well it must be said) and flurry of comment screens, that the unease of watching Maggy’s behaviour is felt in your very bones, leaving us helpless except to tumble down that rabbit hole with her.

Wish You Were Here might leave you completely dazed and perhaps even feeling somehow oddly complicit in Margaret’s dirty deeds, but ultimately it leaves us wanting even more, and what Big Bubba and their team deliver in these six minutes is nothing short of applaudable.