Film

High Score

Name: High Score
Genre: Drama, Horror
Released: 2020
Cast: Ethan Itzkow, Serena Ryen, Briza Covarrubias, Jillian Ferry, Noam Shapiro

Other titles called High Score: the 2020 series (Netflix).

Social drama
Very dark

A sixteen-minute film tracking a young man's spiral into online radicalization and white supremacy as his real life deteriorates. Shot with unflinching clarity, it's a portrait of how alienation finds its vessel in extremist ideology. Uncomfortable viewing, essential perspective on a contemporary crisis of belonging and ideology.

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want a short, sharp look at how a lonely person gets pulled into online hate, and you can handle a story that stays uncomfortably close to its subject.

Skip it if you need escapism or a clear arc, since this is a bleak, claustrophobic study of a mind narrowing rather than a story with much forward motion.

What it asks of you: Sixteen minutes spent in close, unhurried company with a man whose world is shrinking; there is no relief built in, so give it your full, quiet attention.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Nightcrawler2014

Jake Gyllenhaal's descent into moral emptiness mirrors the protagonist's radicalization—both driven by hunger for status and recognition in systems that exploit that hunger.

But Bleak, relentless, and offers no comfort or redemptive arc. The protagonist's worldview never cracks.

American History X1998

Unflinching examination of how white supremacy recruits, corrupts and ruins lives from the inside. Derek Vinyard's trajectory feels like watching dominoes fall in slow motion.

But Graphic violence and hateful rhetoric depicted frontally. Some argue it glamorizes the world it condemns, even as it claims otherwise.

Requiem for a Dream2000

Same DNA of personal collapse driven by obsession and isolation. Aronofsky's visual style makes addiction—whether chemical or ideological—feel like drowning in real time.

But Deliberately punishing to watch. The despair is total and the montage technique can feel manipulative rather than revelatory.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from High Score

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Act of Killing2012

Both trace how ordinary people become architects of harm, and how narrative—whether personal mythology or online conspiracy—lets them live with what they've done.

Documentary asking real perpetrators of mass atrocity to reenact their crimes. What emerges is how ideology becomes performance, and how people construct narratives to justify the unjustifiable.

But Morally vertiginous. You're watching people dramatize genocide with apparent ease, and the film offers almost no editorial judgment.

The Platform2019

Spanish sci-fi horror about systemic cruelty and radicalized thinking. Examines how ordinary people rationalize complicity within structures that dehumanize others.

But Subtitled and deliberately abstract. The allegory can feel heavy-handed, and the nihilism offers no exit.

Uncut Gems2019

Constant anxiety and self-sabotage as a character flaw you watch someone fail to overcome. The editing makes compulsion feel physically present.

But Exhausting by design. There is no reprieve, and the protagonist learns nothing from his mistakes.

Gomorrah2008

Italian crime film that treats organized crime as a total social ecosystem. Shows how systems recruit and destroy individuals, particularly young men with nothing else.

But Slowly paced, in Italian with subtitles, and deeply pessimistic about the possibility of escape or redemption.

Under the Skin2014

Alien predator in human form hunting vulnerable people. Scarlett Johansson's blank affect mirrors a character operating without empathy or genuine connection.

But Hypnotic but glacially slow. Plot is minimal and the horror is existential rather than visceral or explained.

Come and See1985

Soviet war film showing how ideology corrupts and destroys childhood innocence. Brutal case study of radicalization through trauma and indoctrination.

But Genuinely among the most disturbing films ever made. Some sequences are almost unwatchable and the despair is total.

A Prophet2009

French prison film about manipulation, ideology and the seduction of belonging. Shows how power structures groom the young and vulnerable into complicity.

But Long and methodical. French language with subtitles and the moral landscape is murky throughout.