Adele Tulli's 'Real' Examines Social Media Addiction Through a Cinematic Mosaic

Adele Tulli's documentary 'Real', released on November 14 by Luce Cinecittà, explores the daily dependence on social media and digital technology. The film eschews traditional documentary conventions, instead presenting a mosaic of real people's lives as seen through reels, feeds, social confessions, live streams, stories, and metaverse encounters. It depicts individuals finding freedom in digital spaces, including expressing 'follower depression' in solitary rooms filled with likes. The documentary also features a rehab for gamers, twitchers, and TikTokers, and a scene in Venice where an 'alien' confronts tourist selfies. The editing by Ilaria Fraioli creates a contemporary existential mosaic, while the sound and music by Andrea Kochper, cinematography by Clarissa Cappellani and Francesca Zonars, and use of various camera techniques (fish-eye, wide-angle, GoPro, drones) enhance the hyperreal quality. Tulli does not judge or moralize, simply showing what happens. The film includes perspectives from cam girls, online meditation gurus, inhabitants of a Korean smart city, an Asian delivery guy influencer, data center workers, cable-laying ship laborers, and marine mammals coexisting with undersea cables. Ultimately, the film suggests we are all inside a universal data center that consumes, liberates, and unites us.