Jaden Jordan
- Aug 16, 2021
- 3 min read

The Platform (2019)

The Breakdown: In order to quit smoking, a young man enters an experimental prison system: one cell per level and food starts at the top and trickles down. He becomes quickly aware of just how much of an impact hunger has on his fellow prisoners.

Watch If: You're into gross-out folio and overhanded messages.

Not If: You hate feeling like media is preaching to you.

SECONDARY FACTS

Overall Rating: 3.2

Length: 1:34

Country: Spain

Language: Spanish

Gross Factor: 4/5

Gore Factor: 2/5

REVIEW

THE QUICK AND DIRTY

The Platform takes a fascinating idea and drowns it in self-congratulation and gross asides designed to smash you over the head with the film's ideals.

PREMISE: 3

There's something about the basic concept of a prison that doubles as a physical representation of what happens when people are left to the mercy of other people is something that, in context of the current era, is borderline clickbait. There's something intriguing in the possible depths of humanity, more so through the lens of horror that just makes you curious. It's original while still being something that you kind of know what you're in for.

ACTING: 4

It is unreasonable to judge the actors in this film normally or to say that they failed to be compelling, when, when you break it down, that's not quite true. The actors in this film aren't really playing characters, they're playing personifications of ideologies: the cynic, the boomer, the optimist, the desperate. None of them are full characters beyond the main character, which, I will say, does lend itself to the allegorical nature of the film, and gives it almost a folk-talk kind of vibe.

In the context of embodiment of ideas, several of the actors did a phenomenal job, simply oozing out their purposes. They all managed to engage and perpetuate the tension of the film, which is not an easy thing in a film that takes itself as seriously as this one does.

AUDIO AND VISUALS: 4

The majority of this film, visually speaking, feels like it wanted to be an art-house but lacked the balls, budget, or know-how to venture too far away from a very blatant version of their objective. The film relies heavily on a stereotypical red-lighting effect.

The audio, on the other hand, is masterfully visceral and off-putting. Every slurp and pop, every rise and fall of the score drives the tension and turns the stomach. Someone knew what they were doing, and did it very well.

ATMOSPHERE:3

This film is, at its core, a commentary. And it makes no effort to be subtle about it. The exposition lays out the film in grotesque, clomping sledgehammer drops. The way it outlines itself gives the film the tonality of an adult allegory. In and of itself, that isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the heavy-handed preachiness has a good chance of coming across as condescending, and because of that, certainly isn't for everyone.

DELIVERY: 2

There are plenty of gross-out scenes that make the point and push the tone, but there are also a few that maybe didn't need to be as present. But, you know, people are gross.

Now, I am always an advocate for the idea that horror mimics the concerns of reality. All horror is allegorical, whether intentionally or not. But something about the neon sign proselytizing makes The Platform feels pretentious and self-congratulatory. It ports itself like a subtle revolutionary film or a hyper-intellectual concept, when, in reality, it's neither.