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Step by Step (2022)
It's like Twitch, but hygge
If you enjoyed "Expedition Happiness", you'll also like this one.
The general theme is: Privileged people who crave being in the spotlight film themselves for a few months. Last time they were on an (admittedly pretty sweet) vacation, this time they're reaching their thirties, so the themes are: house, vegetable garden, family, baby. Main focus is vegetable garden.
As the main couple is embarking on an experiment with an unknown outcome (will or won't the plants grow?), they again rely on being able to come up with the purpose of the film towards the end. In their pondering on this matter in the final interviews, we learn it might actually be less about "vegetable garden" and more about "family"? Maybe it's because the family flew in to stay for a few weeks and gather around the newborn baby?
The purpose of the film just seems to follow what in any particular moment happens to be right under the main couple's noses. In the beginning and especially in the trailer, the expectation was set that it'll be about raising a kid in the countryside rather than the big city. Turns out, those were just the momentary thoughts of the pregnant couple while moving from the big city to the countryside. This thought is completely forgotten the moment we arrive at the new house. Now there's the task of setting up the vegetable garden, so that's the only thing being discussed for the next hour or so.
But why make a film about a vegetable garden? Well, we learn that the point of that part is that if a "guy next door" can do it, everyone can do it. But hold on, you also just acknowledged that your generation can not afford to live in houses anymore like your parents' generation did. How will your average 3rd floor apartment-dweller Joe with a full time job get access to land and come up with the spare time to service it? How do the filmmakers actually pay for the rent of the house, utilities and everything else while being busy gardening full-time? Not a word on that. I guess we could all just be making deals with Netflix to fund our gardening ambitions, because that seems to be the easiest way to do it. And we should do it, because we learn that "if everyone watching this film starts eating vegetables from their own garden rather than buying from supermarkets, it has already made a difference". So regional, organic food is somewhat better than imported and plastic-wrapped? Groundbreaking stuff.
These films are like flipping through someone's family photo album. If you like the people, you like the film. Personally, after "young people vacation" and "starting a family, planting a garden", I'm looking forward to "dealing with pubescent teenager", "mid-life crisis, buying a Porsche" and "finding joy in retirement".
Expedition Happiness (2017)
Why isn't this a Youtube video?
This movie has been a revelation. Who would have thought that being on holiday and free to do whatever you please is actually more pleasant than working a stressful 9 to 5 job? It only takes our protagonist a few weeks in a Canadian national park to come to this realization which he then proudly presents to his camera while putting his sophisticated selfie-vlog techniques to use. For a second he seems to be wondering why it is that not everyone spends their lives on holiday.
But being on holiday isn't always as easy as it seems. Our traveling couple finds themselves not adhering to US visa regulations which gets them stuck in Vancouver for three whole weeks. This is clearly a stressful time for the two and their dog as they lack the ability to come up with anything to actually do other than walking within a radius of 30 feet around their bus and filming themselves in front of nature. Luckily, they have family fly over the Atlantic ocean to help them keep busy during these tough times. Even though everything works out, this horrible experience is still gnawing at our progatonist and we get to watch him whine about it while driving down the Californian coastline.
And there's more hardship to come. Because who could have ever expected that the climate gets warmer towards the equator? Long story short, the couple drag their pet dog into a climate in which the breed usually tends to die -- which the dog then promptly starts his best attempt to do. Bringing the dog home and continuing the journey without him would have probably gone over poorly with the reviewers, so our female lead covers the poor thing in ice packs while her boyfriend is driving them through the desert. In Tulum though, the dog decides that he's had enough of their crap. The couple is forced to cut their holiday short, book a flight back home and spend their last couple of days snorkeling, filming themselves running into the ocean and showing off their Spanish skills by calling everything "muy bonito" while their dog is hanging out at the vet's office trying not to make this film flop by actually dying.
The theme of "finding happiness" quickly gets lost because let's be honest, our protagonists can't actually come up with anything meaningful anyway. But we get to watch them enjoy a nice holiday and maybe one day it'll help them become really successful Youtubers.