A Micro-Budget Magnolia for the Adam Curtis Era

Joshua Z. Weinstein’s 76-minute New York mosaic “Here I’m Alive,” inspired by a Radiohead lyric and following characters across one night, frames social media as both connection and control—bookended by a chilling tech-optimist sequence and culminating in a su

A YouTube interview with a billionaire techno-optimist opens the film—pixelated. almost unreal—until it’s abruptly swallowed by suicidal Discord messages as the camera zooms back out. It’s a hard jolt in the first moments of Joshua Z. Weinstein’s “Here I’m Alive,” his first feature since 2017’s “Menashe.”.

The movie’s reach is modest—microbudget. 76 minutes. set across a single night on Earth—but its target is anything but small. Weinstein assembles a mosaic of sex workers. shut-ins. and social media stars who seem to slide into each other’s lives without ever looking up from their screens. seduced by the indifference of infinite scroll and the promises it sells about prosperity and connection.

The film’s title is inspired by a lyric from Radiohead’s “Idioteque. ” and it carries itself like a New York “Magnolia” for the hypernormalization era: a workaday drama that doesn’t simply argue “phones = bad. ” but instead aims to trace the invisible web of algorithms that have rewired how people see each other and move through the world. Even its most didactic moments—there are only a few—hit with enough bite to land the message rather than float past it.

Central to the picture is a desktop world anchored by Majora (Cheyenne Gallagher). Majora is a lightly fictionalized version of the first-time actor playing him. and he’s a sweet-natured agoraphobe who has surrounded himself with glowing computers in place of leaving his apartment—or even wearing a shirt. Most of his time is spent pirating Adam Curtis videos and offering support to other shut-ins. including one person threatening to take his own life. The threat builds toward a suspense-heavy crescendo. turning into the film’s most high-stakes look at the porous relationship between online and IRL.

Elsewhere. Krystaly (Krystaly Figueroa. real and riveting) juggles shifts at Target with a live-streamed TikTok dating show where she auditions potential suitors. Weinstein’s panopticon-like approach doesn’t pause often for explanation. but the whiplash is built into the structure: Krystaly goes from vulnerability—pleading her case to a social worker—to another kind of vulnerability when the phones come out. where she’s placed in a similarly constructed position of power. That setup holds for a while, until the physical world presses in on her show.

The film’s attention also brushes past a Venezuelan migrant worker who brings Krystaly and her friend some food early on. In a handoff typical of Weinstein and co-writer Brian Perkins’ overlapping attention. the camera follows the delivery guy away as others complain about the state of their order. His name is Eddie (Eddie Torrenegra). Weinstein cast Eddie after seeing him at the Atlantic Center Chick-fil-A. Eddie is recognized on social media by some people who prepare his orders. and he’s striving to get his two young kids to join him in America. FaceTime is presented as a way to be there for them. but the film makes the cost unmistakable: talking to their six-year-old on the phone only sharpens the ache of absence.

On a less precarious track. “Here I’m Alive” also introduces influencer Emira (Emira D’Spain). now seen on Bravo’s “Next Gen NYC” but shown here as a kind of mirage. and Felix (Caleb Zuzga). a sugar baby twink convinced that he’s one lip filler injection away from landing a “daddy” who will fulfill all his dreams. For all of Felix’s naivete. the film is at its best—at its most unresolved—when it negotiates what success even means. His vision feels both ridiculous and tantalizingly within reach.

Weinstein’s dispassionally observational style—slow zooms that stretch the city so flat it can start to look two-dimensional—renders traditional ideas of upward mobility obsolete by replacing them with new metrics of success. That feeling runs through an elaborate soundscape that combines ambient noise with 20 original songs from DIY artists. Those songs are played diegetically across a meshwork of Bluetooth speakers and passing cars. music that’s both lovingly intricate and easy to ignore when an algorithm pulls attention elsewhere. “Here I’m Alive” lands on a brittle hope: there’s still hope for the future. the film suggests. but only if people aren’t reduced into data.

Grade: B

“Here I’m Alive” premiered at the 2026 Tribeca Festival. It is currently seeking U.S. distribution.

Here I’m Alive Joshua Z. Weinstein Menashe Tribeca Festival microbudget film TikTok dating show Discord messages Adam Curtis videos social media stars Bluetooth speakers DIY artists Cheyenne Gallagher Krystaly Figueroa Eddie Torrenegra Emira D’Spain Caleb Zuzga Radiohead Idioteque