‘Actual People’ (2022) Review: Anxieties of Adulthood
“I wish someone would just tell me the kind of person I’m supposed to be.”
There are a few questions that will unnerve a 22-year-old student a week before graduation, one of which is, “So, what are your plans after graduation?” Kit Zauhar’s Actual People reflects on the anxieties of adulthood, relationships, and the future after college. It follows an aimless young student who goes to parties and drowns herself in meaningless relationships to fill the void of her last breakup. The movie focuses on the state of mind of the central protagonist, who struggles to get past the fear and anxiety of the world around her, and the question she keeps dreading at every turn.
Riley (Zauhar) is one week away from her graduation. While her friends are ready for the next chapter in their lives, she doesn’t want her college experience to end. Riley is hesitant to step out into the real world because college has been the one place that has shielded her from reality. She struggles with finishing her final paper and her professor plans to fail her; her roommate wants her out of the apartment because of the way she treated him after they hooked up, and the prospect of a new love interest might fill the dull void in her life are some of the things that are piling on to her list of problems. Riley is on the verge of a mental breakdown and so, she parties her night away to avoid the responsibilities of her future.
At the centre of Actual People, Riley’s complex character works perfectly in this setting. Her life is chaotic, as she tries to handle many problems, including the bad breakup with her long-term boyfriend who left her for someone else, which she hasn’t recovered from. Riley’s self-destructive behaviour is an excellent reflection of a young millennial. Throughout the movie, Riley gets into situations where she constantly shoots herself in the foot. Even when Riley hurts the people around her, it reminds the audience that this college student is only 22-year-old dealing with the sudden blinding thrust into adulthood. Her attitude towards life is a universal and relatable experience. There’s confusion, anxiety, and an unknown journey that leads her to avoid the important decisions in her life.
In this coming-of-age film, Zauhar provides plenty of scenes that are hilarious. In a scene where Riley visits her college counsellor, she learns that this is their last session together. The therapist wishes her good luck for her future but Riley jolts up, confused, “Wait, what?” It brings back the terror of losing someone who helped you get through something difficult in your life. (On a personal note, I had a similar experience with my college counsellor. When I learned that the eighth session would be our last, I swear, it felt like a breakup). Riley depends on these sessions to understand what she is going through in her life. She knows that there is still a lot more for her to discuss, and the sudden realisation that she needs to be more self-sufficient is a kind of reality that she does not accept.
Zauhar touches on the subject of feeling lost in a world where people expect you to be an overachiever. In the entire movie, Riley attempts to find her place in the world. It’s another universal element that Zauhar constantly explores in the movie, along with identity and existential crisis. Zauhar portrays a flawed character who learns to accept parts of her future in the most chaotic way possible.
While Zauhar nails Actual People thematically, the script is not its strongest element. There are some scenes, which feel under-rehearsed and lack the kind of spark needed to ignite some emotional moments. In an attempt to keep these scenes flowing organically, the dialogues aren’t powerful enough. Zauhar tries to build emotional and tense moments, but it becomes clear that the script could have used a bit more work to make the scenes more compelling.
Actual People captures the anxieties of adulthood and the pursuit of what the future holds for college graduates. Zauhar’s exploration of Riley’s self-realisation is the kind of gnawing feeling that young adults deal with every day. The endless questions of what her next plans are or whether has she gotten a job yet are many of the real-world pressures that encapsulate this period of Riley’s life.
