Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018)

dir. David Slade
writ. Charlie Brooker
feat. Fionn Whitehead, Craig Parkinson, Alice Lowe, Will Poulter

Charlie Brooker and Black Mirror have brought loads of intelligent entertainment to the small screen, playfully delivering a tech-centric version of The Twilight Zone. I've long thought this tech-centric aspect narrows the focus too much, often leading down obvious and overwrought pathways of social media obsession or nanny parenting. But on the flip side, there are gifts of tales exploring the afterlife, the eerie powers of near-future tech, and self-referential delights. 

For anyone who read Choose Your Own Adventure books as a kid, the Bandersnatch experiment can't help but intrigue, even if a clear look back at those books would likely trigger little more than faint recollection of storylines and no specific title that ranks among favorite childhood reads. It's for this that I wonder if Bandersnatch was a doomed experiment from the start. As an Atari and early computer game player back in that day, dipping into the gaming world of the mid-80s excited me, as did seeing Will Poulter playing an adult instead of a wide-eyed kid. I found an early satisfaction in watching the story unfold while participating, curious where it would take me. And, I'm admittedly a sucker for any hallucinogenic ride to deeper consciousness and the other side of the looking glass. But right about there, my magic carpet took a dark dive that felt irreversible (and not my experience at all on such real life illuminating rides), with my choices becoming increasingly lame and narrowly differentiated. I would hesitate, thinking both ideas were lousy, the stuff of bad melodrama where kids (or adults) throw things and break expensive, important equipment. 

But the greatest gaff for me came when I found a loop that trapped me between choosing Netflix or Kill My Dad, locking me in repetition until I picked one. This turned my stomach, perhaps a cheap inside joke, like The Simpsons ripping on Fox, something perhaps about addiction to TV. Regardless, it rubbed the wrong way. 

Perhaps for the eager viewer, willing to restart and try every option, there is some satisfaction in the variety found, but as one who essentially went through once, while accepting a late loop offered at the end to try a few more choices, Bandersnatch came up short.

Most significantly, the only two alternate endings I saw felt virtually the same, despite a major difference (game success). And I recognized, therein lies the weakness in the concept. Since it's not a game, you don't Win by coming out "successful" and since there isn't a fixed path, a singular story, you don't win by enjoying a well-told tale either. This kind of undertaking needs far more ambition and (likely cost-prohibitive) budget to reach the scope of a world one could fall into and get lost, like an expansive modern game where you can accomplish set goals or wander off to find adventures that don't stick to the central narrative. Instead, Bandersnatch feels like a lose-lose situation.