Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
In contemporary Los Angeles, two millennials navigating a social media–driven hookup culture begin a relationship that pushes both emotional and physical boundaries.
Newness tackles millennial hookup culture and open relationships in LA with a glossy aesthetic but ultimately delivers a familiar story of emotional ambivalence and relationship dysfunction. The performances from Nicholas Hoult and Laia Costa are engaging and carry genuine chemistry, and the cinematography has a clean, contemporary sheen. However, the plot follows a fairly well-worn path—passionate beginnings eroding into ennui and infidelity—without offering much new psychological or narrative insight. The film's thematic territory (dating apps, emotional numbness, modern intimacy) was being explored more sharply elsewhere around the same time. The ending feels inconclusive in a way that reads as unearned rather than artfully ambiguous, leaving character arcs unresolved without sufficient payoff.