After a first taste of cinema with the recent dubbing of the animated film The Nutcracker and The Magic Flute, the very young youtuber Charlotte M. makes her debut as a leading actress in Flamingo Party directed by Emanuele Pisano. In theaters from New Year’s Day 2023, the film is a glossy comedy centered on the experiences of a girl in her first year of high school who is confronted with her world: school, friends, boyfriends, rivals. In the cast, in addition to Charlotte M we also find Alisa Ferri in the role of her best friend Sofia, Eleonora Trevisani in that of Martina, Gabriele Rizzoli who is Davide, the boy Charlotte falls in love with, and Veronica Gaggero in the role of the wicked Sabrina.
Charlotte M – Flamingo Party: the plot
Charlotte is a first-year high school girl who, like many of her peers, lives her days between school commitments and friendship with her best friend, Sofia. A strong and indissoluble bond that seems unsinkable. Charlotte is a creative and empathetic young woman and one day she discovers that the place of her heart, the oasis of flamingos located near her grandmother’s country house, is at risk. The association that manages it is no longer able to cover the expenses and the concession is about to be withdrawn, and the peaceful life of those splendid pink birds is therefore in danger. The girl is saddened by this news and when, shortly after, she becomes the social media manager of her school account and has the possibility of involving thousands of followers, she decides to use her new social-media power to try to save the oasis of flamingos. He therefore decides to organize the first school dance of his institute to raise funds and gets to work together with his inseparable Sofia and his new friend Martina, managing to involve even the most popular boy in the school, Davide (of whom obviously soon falls in love), and to arouse the envy of rival Sabrina who will try in every way to put a spoke in the works to the success of the Flamingo Party.
Flamingo Party, a comedy for teenagers a bit out of time
Watching Flamingo Party, the first film starring the beloved youtuber Charlotte M. one has the feeling of being in front of a product for teenagers of those that were offered to teenagers a few years ago. A simple and linear story that addresses the most dear themes in the world of adolescence avoiding any complexity and aiming instead to bring out the importance of the right choices and the most correct feelings. A narrative approach to the teen world that appears a bit out of time to the average viewer and that attempts to make it more contemporary by recounting the continuous presence of the social world and the constant overlap between virtual and offline life of teenagers. A comedy that seems to have passed through some filter, the kind used on photos to be posted on social networks to make us appear more beautiful and above all more ‘smooth’: without shadows, spots or imperfections, but which also risk flattening the image by bringing via authenticity.
Surely Flamingo Party is in line with the style and messages proposed by Charlotte M. daily to her many followers and it is a product that seems to speak not so much to the audience of the protagonist’s peers but, given the simplicity of the narration, to a slightly more young man who, following Charlotte’s adventures, will be able to start dreaming about the world of high school and the upcoming adventures of adolescence.
Score: 6