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Poland · 2020
2h 15m
Director Jan Komasa
Starring Maciej Musiałowski, Vanessa Aleksander, Danuta Stenka, Jacek Koman
Genre Drama, Thriller
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After being expelled from law school for plagiarism, Tomasz takes a job at a public relations firm. The manipulative young man soon finds himself running a troll farm, manufacturing online hatred and spreading fake news. As he rises through the ranks at the company, he uses his skills in online propaganda to seek revenge against those who have wronged him.
RogerEbert.com by Brian Tallerico
Every time it feels like Komasa and Pacewicz edge too close to sympathy for their modern monster, Tomasz does something that reveals those feelings to be unearned and undesired by the filmmakers. And it’s that give and take that makes The Hater interesting.
The New York Times by Glenn Kenny
The movie is most effective in detailing how disinformation campaigns work.
Unlike “Corpus Christi,” which was loosely based on factual events, The Hater parts ways with plausibility early on — and yet, it’s relevant enough to prey on our anxieties.
All this amorality is in service of a morality tale, of course, pointing out that politics is more than just a game manipulated by liars and cheats. It’s a blood-port, and hate speech incites hate crimes in this self-righteous, long and meandering allegory.
The film drags on until the story becomes harder to buy and the central character harder to remain interested in.
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