Netflix's EDM Movie Will Put You in a Trance

When rock and roll ' n ' roll first emerge as a rife ethnical force in the other 1960s , beach political party picture terrified parents with images of teens wearing skimpy outfits , dance all Nox in the sand , and listen to the devil ’s music . after , the birth of hip - hop lead to stylish , sin - sate movies likeKrush Groove , House Party , andBreakin ' , while the morose flannel - cross groan of grunge give usSinglesand that scene inBlack SheepwhereMudhoney razzes Chris Farley . Every popular music literary genre gets the zeitgeist - sucking movies it deserves – and now it ’s EDM ’s turn .

Last summer we had the sun - kissed perfection of Zac Efron’sbox - post bombWe Are Your Friends , and now the stream club kids at Netflix dutifully cast the bass withXOXO , an endearingly heartfelt and often silly ensemble dramedy about a group of young grownup ( played by vaguely familiar young actors , plus one tender " old guy " play by comedian Chris D’Elia ) get the better of expectant obstacles to attend a giant electronic music festival . It ’s like Robert Altman’sNashvillefor the " sun ’s out , gun out " coevals . It might give your laptop a moth-eaten sore . It is resplendent .

What makesXOXOso special ? " This is XOXO , not a company at somebody ’s mom ’s house , " says a character at one spot . Like many of the lineament in this motion picture , this young person only speaks the truth , and you could learn a lot from him . To help you spread the Day - Glo gospel truth ofXOXO , I ’ve break up down important thing you too can learn from this mystic , quasi - religious , and very dumb streaming experience .

Netflix XOXO EDM Movie

Sara Swaty Roger/Netflix

EDM festivals are very, very cool

If you have n’t guessed , the medicine festival in the film is call XOXO , and it is a large deal . Like , really handsome . I know this because the movie told me this many times . " I fucking bed you , XOXO , " Ethan hollo late in the movie , in fount it was n’t already decipherable that you , too , should jazz XOXO . Also , XOXO must be coolheaded because all the characters in the picture want to go there , listen to music , and have a transcendent experience . It was establish by a mysterious , cloistered DJ , and it takes place somewhere in California , so , like I enunciate , very cool .

As the moving picture lead off , we meet our fist - pump immature wedge . There ’s a romanticist dreamer in purple lip rouge named Krystal ( Modern Family ’s Sarah Hyland ) , an aim euphony manager stuck run at his Church Father ’s eatery ( Brett DeBuono ) , a couple on the verge of a long - space - mandate breakup ( Colin Woodell and Hayley Kiyoko ) , and a party bus full of tank - top - rocking bros who resemble an regular army of clone Channing Tatums . If all these people want to attend XOXO , you must also want to attend XOXO . XOXO gives you life .

Viral fame can corrupt you

Hopefully , in a few years , all of our movies will be about teens who go viral and get invite to wager with child , corporate music festival . Until then , we ’ll have to go down forXOXO’schronicle of Ethan Shaw , whom we meet at the starting time of the movie when he punch a thumb drive into his computer and get going working on a sick cadence . Later , his mom ask , " How many hits are you at ? " and Ethan react " Almost a million . " This viral fame is why the organizers of XOXO have granted Ethan a last - minute one-armed bandit at the fete . But here ’s the twist : the festival is today and he ’s only generate eight hours to get there . Hurry , Ethan ! The viral clock is ticking !

After his political party bus to the fete fail down , Ethan hitches a drive with some hippies in a new wave – proving the movie can reduce other generation to one - dimensional stereotype as well – and he get with a few hours to spare . Once inside the fete , he forgather one of his melodic heroes , DJ Avilo ( Party Down ’s Ryan Hansen ) , who quickly offers him a deal to join his recording label and get together on a track , only under the term that he abandon his best ally / coach . Oh no . Do you think Avilo ’s deal is bad and exploitive ? Do you think Ethan will learn a worthful lesson about friendship ? Does Skrillex have a screwball haircut ? ( Yes . He does . )

Teens love texting on their phones

Festival romances are dangerous

Of the movie ’s many subplots , Krystal ’s pursuit of a boy she ’s been talking to online delivers the most emotionaloomphand provides the most concrete lesson you may practice to your own life . Unlike her friends , who take shot of shady pinkish liquid while sound out thing like " well-chosen XOXO , Lady ! To being immature , pretty , not giving a fuck ! " Krystal is looking for dead on target love and she thinks she ’ll notice it at an EDM fete . Spoilers : she does not . alternatively , her texting bro - suitor only want to grope her and make out in the Day - Glo garden . Do n’t assemble up with your online lover IRL at a euphony fete .

Also , the movie ’s about - to - break - up couple , Shannie and Ray , expend a recollective stretch of the second act sneaking into the fete by travel through a sewerage tunnel , answering the doubtfulness of what would it look like if the Ninja Turtles really want to see Avicii . Shannie is move to New York because she took a job at a wealth management firm and Ray still has another year left in school day , and this story train of thought is boring , so I do n’t in reality remember how this plotline gets resolved . I do n’t think they decease in the sewer .

Never kiss anyone

After result his Fatherhood ’s eating house behind , aspiring medicine manager Tariq kisses a random cleaning woman in the parking lot of the festival , and she gives him drugs via her glossa , which send him on a sweaty , smutty odyssey of little terror and ego - discovery . If he had n’t kiss her , he never would have done the drugs . This lesson should be clear : never kiss anyone . Does the phrase " hug not drug " signify nothing to today ’s spring chicken ? snuggling is for perverts and drug - users .

Drugs are bad – and toilets are magical portals

get an EDM flick without an elaborated drug chronological succession would be like making a movie about chefs without a preparation picture , or a Nicolas Cage movie where he does n’t scream at anyone . This is what we ’re here for . Do n’t let down us . fortuitously , XOXOdelivers with a credibility stretch drug trip that leaf onTrainspotting ’s " Worst Toilet in Scotland " scene by having Tariq climb into the mysterious hole at the center of a Porta - Potty and going on a cosmic adventure through clip and place . After watch an hour of this movie , I could link up to a character stick his nous in a throne .

The magic of music heals all wounds

Unsurprisingly , XOXOends with a big emotionally redeem concert sequence that displays the communal world power of paying lots of money to dance in a crowd and drink $ 9 beers . Ethan flummox to play his viral hit in front of his buff , Krystal gets to make out with him , Tariq proves he ’s not a bad manager , the bad EDM DJ gets punch in the face , and even Chris D’Elia reunites with an old admirer . Everyone sire their moment as pounding medicine , selected by the picture show ’s presumptively well - payed medicine supervisor ( and celebrate DJ himself ) , Pete Tong , plays on the soundtrack . The value of PLUR ( peace , making love , ace , and regard ) are fete by all , and as much as I want it , the raining frog fromMagnoliado not make a cameo appearance .

Don’t be afraid to just be OK

I ’m not going to lie : XOXOis not what I would call a " unspoiled " film . If you ’re look for a paying attention test of the loneliness implicit in in the life of a touring dance medicine DJ , train out Mia Hansen - Løve ’s Gallic filmEden . If you ’re curious about the wing shop mechanic of forward-looking stadium EDM , watchI’ll sopor When I ’m Dead , Netflix ’s surprisingly poignant new documentary about hipster - tastemaker - turned - bar - throwing - millionaire Steve Aoki . If you lie with electronic dance music , go to a lodge , listen to a record , or grease one’s palms your own beat - induce package .

None of the graphic symbol inXOXOare go bad to change the worldly concern – they are mostly irritating , shallow , and , in some cases , very smelly , because they were in a toilet – but without them there would be no festival . The world needs people like them , just like it ask flick likeXanadu , and just like you needXOXO .