I recently had the misfortune to sit and watch a Netflix show that had been trending for some time. ‘Cam‘, a thriller/suspense flick, is easily one of the most ridiculous things I’ve watched. It is essentially about Lola, a girl porn star, who is trying to climb to the top of the ladder in her industry. She lies to her family and friends about what she actually does for a living, saying that she’s in web development, when really she goes online and gets naked for tips.

In the beginning of the movie, she fakes her own suicide on camera in order to rise by a couple ranks and does a few other daring stuff too. All of this is in an attempt to supersede Baby, the girl who currently holds number one position.

Things take a creepy turn when a doppelganger appears online, using her name and account. At first, she thinks that there is an error, and that the site is replaying some of her older videos. But when it becomes clear that the videos are in fact live and not simply replays, she enlists the help of the site admins to have it taken down and even the police, but receive no help from either. At this point in the movie, you are interested in who her double might be. Is it a real person? Did she have a twin? But since there is no mention of her even having a sister, it becomes clear that something sinister is at play.

And that was the most interesting part about the movie for me. I was engrossed in the ‘who and how’ details of the identity theft, but that was never addressed. Eventually, she manages to outsmart the AI (or whatever the heck it was) and have the account taken down, but later we see her making another account to go back online as a cam girl. You would think that after all the trouble and scare of having your identity stolen and your privacy invaded, you’d steer clear of porn freelancing, but no. The other thing that came off a bit confusing, was that her mother helped her start up her second account after she had previously frowned upon her job. Maybe it was something I missed, but the change of heart in the character seems oddly inconsistent. I wanted answers about the antagonist of the situation, but after a while, any such knowledge would have been like a privilege. The movie didn’t have a satisfying conclusion; rather, it left important questions unanswered, and highlighted the immense absurdity of its characters.