We Are Your Friends
2015 · Directed by Max Joseph
Original language: English
- drama
- music
- romance
- comedy
The story
Young Cole Carter dreams of hitting the big time as a Hollywood disc jockey, spending his days and nights hanging with buddies and working on the one track that will set the world on fire. Opportunity comes knocking when he meets James Reed, a charismatic DJ who takes the 23-year-old under his wing. Soon, his seemingly clear path to success gets complicated when he starts falling for his mentor's girlfriend, jeopardizing his new friendship and the future he seems destined to fulfill.
What it’s like
Bright, sun-bleached Los Angeles in the daytime and hazy, strobing club nights after dark, with the Valley's flat suburban streets and hillside houses giving way to glossy rooftop parties and warehouse rooms full of pulsing lights. The look is slick digital and commercial, with saturated blues and oranges, quick cuts, and handheld energy during the DJ sets, where the camera dives into crowds and the sound swells into thumping house and electro that drops out for a moment of intimacy. Between the parties the mood softens into warm, unhurried scenes of a dim apartment, a pool at dusk, or a quiet car ride, and the score pulls back to a little piano or a single synth line. The vibe is breezy and wistful, a bit of sun-drenched nostalgia with an undertow of restlessness. It suits a lazy weekend afternoon, a late-night playlist-and-couch watch, or a summer evening when you want music, glamour and easy romance. Its pacing is loose and sociable, its people are young men working out ambition, loyalty and what they owe each other, and the arc is one of a hopeful newcomer learning hard lessons about friendship. Intensity is low: some drinking, drug use and partying, a few heated arguments, and a sexual, sometimes flirtatious tone, but no real violence or gore. It is for people who want glossy, music-led drama with light stakes and a dreamy Los Angeles sheen.
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