For anyone over a certain age, the job of social media influencer exists purely in quotation marks, and anyone aspiring to be one is contemptible at best. But the new documentary “Jawline” offers a surprisingly compassionate look not just at one rural Tennessee kid’s bid for virtual stardom, but also at the digital celebrity-industrial complex that perpetuates itself by dehumanizing people into content-generating commodities.
Tracing delicate lines back to the heartthrob mall tours of the 1980s, director Liza Mandelup unobtrusively follows her subject, Kingsport, Tenn., native Austyn Tester, as he stakes his claim in the online space. Using platforms like Instagram and YouCast to interact with fans, Tester’s irrepressible enthusiasm and fresh-scrubbed sincerity comes across immediately, making him an ideal focus for the film — particularly given the skepticism and outright distaste many have for this growing community.
But what the film quickly reveals is that despite these technological advances,...
Tracing delicate lines back to the heartthrob mall tours of the 1980s, director Liza Mandelup unobtrusively follows her subject, Kingsport, Tenn., native Austyn Tester, as he stakes his claim in the online space. Using platforms like Instagram and YouCast to interact with fans, Tester’s irrepressible enthusiasm and fresh-scrubbed sincerity comes across immediately, making him an ideal focus for the film — particularly given the skepticism and outright distaste many have for this growing community.
But what the film quickly reveals is that despite these technological advances,...
- 8/23/2019
- by Todd Gilchrist
- The Wrap
Jawline Hulu Reviewed for Shockya.com & BigAppleReviews.net linked from Rotten Tomatoes by: Harvey Karten Director: Liza Mandelup Cast: Mikey Barone, Bryce Hall, Jovani Jara, Julian Jara, Austyn Tester, Donovan Tester, Michael Weist Screened at: Park Ave., NYC, 7/18/19 Opens: August 23, 2019 In at least one sense, the social media—Facebook, Instagram, Twitter—have not changed teen-aged […]
The post Jawline Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Jawline Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 8/18/2019
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
Before bedtime in Kingsport, Tenn., 16-year-old Austyn Tester shoots an inspirational selfie video just for himself. “It is 10:06 pm, and I am not famous right now,” admits Austyn. Yet, the aspiring social media star plans to be — soon — via filming daily live streams telling young girls to believe in themselves and chase their dreams, all delivered with sincerity and a batting of eyelashes underneath his banana soft-serve bangs. Shy teens gobble up his adamant positivity, and by the end of Liza Mandelup’s documentary “Jawline,” this naive boy who’s never been on a plane, had his eyebrows threaded, or hugged a paying stranger will accomplish all three.
Success? Not to Mandelup, whose portrait of would-be influencers and their young female disciples is #nofilter, especially when she introduces us to 21-year-old manager Michael Weist, the fast-talking, desk-pounding reincarnation of Louis B. Mayer who lives in a fast-food-strewn mansion in...
Success? Not to Mandelup, whose portrait of would-be influencers and their young female disciples is #nofilter, especially when she introduces us to 21-year-old manager Michael Weist, the fast-talking, desk-pounding reincarnation of Louis B. Mayer who lives in a fast-food-strewn mansion in...
- 1/29/2019
- by Amy Nicholson
- Variety Film + TV
Shane Dawson’s Streamy-winning dive into Tana Mongeau’s disastrous TanaCon gathering this summer may be getting a run for its money.
Michael Weist, the 22-year-old CEO of Good Times Entertainment -- which helped organize TanaCon alongside Mongeau -- announced yesterday in a press release that he is premiering his own documentary chronicling the lead-up to the dubious convention and how things ultimately went dangerously awry.
TanaCon: The Documentary will be released in “the following days,” Weist announced, though he has yet to specify a release date or venue. Weist, who called TanaCon “the greatest risk, loss, and lesson I've ever had to learn,” said that the film serves as a follow-up to Dawson’s own acclaimed series, and comprises “hours of raw, unedited, and untampered-with footage of what really happened with TanaCon."
Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.
Michael Weist, the 22-year-old CEO of Good Times Entertainment -- which helped organize TanaCon alongside Mongeau -- announced yesterday in a press release that he is premiering his own documentary chronicling the lead-up to the dubious convention and how things ultimately went dangerously awry.
TanaCon: The Documentary will be released in “the following days,” Weist announced, though he has yet to specify a release date or venue. Weist, who called TanaCon “the greatest risk, loss, and lesson I've ever had to learn,” said that the film serves as a follow-up to Dawson’s own acclaimed series, and comprises “hours of raw, unedited, and untampered-with footage of what really happened with TanaCon."
Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.
- 10/30/2018
- by Geoff Weiss
- Tubefilter.com
Michael Weist, who until today was the CEO of Good Times Entertainment, the company that partnered with YouTuber Tana Mongeau to put on the infamously disastrous “TanaCon,” has released a statement saying that as of now, Good Times Entertainment, LLC, is being replaced by Good Times TV, LLC. Weist will head Good Times TV, which he called a “full-service digital studio” that plans to launch a streaming platform, as president, co-founder, and board advisor.
The pivot is Good Times’ first public move since TanaCon, which was shut down after a massive number of unexpected guests flooded its host hotel. An investigation by fellow YouTuber Shane Dawson reportedly found that the convention, billed as free to attend, had informed the hotel around 1,000 guests were expected, but sold 5,108 “VIP” tickets for $65 a pop.
In the third and last video of Dawson’s investigation series, he brought in both Weist and Mongeau, neither...
The pivot is Good Times’ first public move since TanaCon, which was shut down after a massive number of unexpected guests flooded its host hotel. An investigation by fellow YouTuber Shane Dawson reportedly found that the convention, billed as free to attend, had informed the hotel around 1,000 guests were expected, but sold 5,108 “VIP” tickets for $65 a pop.
In the third and last video of Dawson’s investigation series, he brought in both Weist and Mongeau, neither...
- 8/16/2018
- by James Loke Hale
- Tubefilter.com
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