Our ‘Poser’ review was first published as part of our Tribeca Film Festival 2021 coverage.

Where to watch: Only in Theaters This Friday at the Quad Cinema in New York and the Landmark Westwood in Los Angeles.

At a time when people define themselves through their highly curated appearances, personal styles, and tastes in things, creating an identity is easier to do than even before. But the feeling of “fitting in” is still much tougher. And when people turn to merely adopting others’ personalities in the hopes of fitting in, when desperation grows, sometimes it can take a dark turn.

Premiering at Tribeca Film Festival, Poser explores the idea of identity and authenticity and the hopes of fitting in within the Columbus indie music scene (which the film actually takes place in, using real artists and bands to create the world). It’s a captivating place to set the film in, being a place where art and expression is so creative and unique, along with it cool hipsters that make it up.

It’s these cool hipsters within this underground music scene that captivates Lennon (newcomer Sylvie Mix), a quiet indie music fan who attends basement and warehouse shows with wide-eyed admiration for these artists. Hiding behind her chunky headphones and heavy backpack, Lennon uses her podcast as a way to meet these artists and enter their lives, capturing their conversations and original thoughts in catalogues of cassettes that she obsessively collects.

One such artist who Lennon befriends is Bobbi Kitten, singer of the indie pop duo Damn The Witch Siren (who plays a version of her actual self), and a friendship blooms between the two. As Lennon grows more comfortable around Bobbi and her new artist friends–who all continue to inspire her with their original thoughts and art, which she secretly records along the way–she also starts sharing her “original” writing and songs with the hopes of furthering her own art. That is, until it’s revealed that Lennon’s work might not be as original as she claimed to be.

A feature film debut from directors Ori Segev and Noah Dixon, Poser feels like a unique hybrid of Ingrid Goes West for the indie music scene. The duo of directors create a sense of thriller elements and suspense around the concept of someone who fakes their past in order to fit in. Newcomer Sylvie Mix in the lead role as Lennon, with her quiet yet captivating performance, is transfixing, and her presence in the movie feels like a true discovery.

To that end of “discovery,” perhaps the coolest thing about Poser is that Segev and Dixon know Columbus’ underground music scene so well, and feature real bands and music throughout the film. By intercutting a wide variety of these real artists and bands throughout the story and seeing their live performances, Poser feels even more real and makes for a fun sense of music discovery that indie and underground music fans will totally enjoy.

Poser ends up taking on some psychological thriller elements that made me think of Nightcrawler, though it doesn’t quite go to the same dark depths that I hoped for. The ultimate world that it creates though, and it’s introduction to this whole new impressive group of talented filmmakers, actors and musicians is enough for me to recommend this film to all of my hip and tastemaker friends.

87 min. Distributed by Oscilloscope Laboratories.