One Line Review: Taking place over the course of one night, Forever Rich depicts how life can fall apart when you become famous and how social media can become desperate with negativity when you become famous.
Youtube Trailer Forever Rich
Starring: Jonas Smulder, Sinem Kuvas
Director: Shady El-Hamus
Release Date: 8 Oct 2021
Introduction
Forever Rich (2021), a Netflix original series, is a reality check on what it’s like to be a celebrity, the trauma of being famous, and everything else that comes with building an enviable career and lifestyle. The series is set in the year 2021 and is set in Los Angeles. This Dutch thriller is a social satire on social media culture and how it has a negative impact on the lives of influencers, singers, and other well-known artists. It is set in the Netherlands. Forever Rich is a gritty, devasting novel that unfolds over the course of a single devasting night and attempts to paint an unapologetic picture of today’s world.
The film, written and directed by Shady El-Hamus, stars Paradise Drifters actor Jonas Smulders in the role of Rich, the film’s protagonist. Additionally, Yootha Wong-Loi-Sing, Hadewych Minis, Daniel Kolf, and Sinem Kavus are featured in the film. The film has an engrossing storyline and is 1 hour and 30 minutes in length.
Plot Analysis
Rich, who is also referred to as Richie and Rick throughout the course of the film, is a rising rapper who has a lot of potentials. A boy from the streets who appeared out of nowhere and is now signing deals with major record labels such as Sony: this sounds like the story of every self-made celebrity, doesn’t it? Forever Rich establishes credibility and authenticity from the very beginning of the story. Rich is blessed with surprises and love in the run-up to his big tour, but only for a short period of time. Over the course of one long night, the rapper is mugged, humiliated on social media, and pushed down a path of vengeance by his enemies.
As a result of being humiliated, Forever Rich exposes the ugly reality of how social media, hate comments, and the canceled culture that exists on various platforms can drive all of the wrong motivations into a person’s mind. The lack of sensitivity displayed on these platforms has resulted in a series of incidents that are similar to those depicted in the film, and in some cases, even worse.
This is what a celebrity’s worst nightmare looks like in Forever Rich
Rich’s one viral video of him being robbed causes him to be labeled as a “pussy” on social media, which infuriates him to the point where he decides to exact revenge by kidnapping one of the robbers, who happens to be a teenage boy, and putting his friends’ lives in danger. While his wife is pregnant, Rich’s phone is stolen by a gang of robbers, who then leaks inappropriate pictures and videos from his phone. One of these videos shows him having sexual relations with another woman while his wife is pregnant, and another shows him having sex with another woman while his wife is pregnant.
When this happens, Rich, who had previously chased after the robbers in order to satisfy his ego, becomes fearful that whatever is posted on the internet will have the potential to destroy his entire life. Rich, driven by vengeance and having lost the trust and respect of his wife and friends by this point, meets up with the gang of robbers, takes his belongings, and films one of the members being humiliated by him. The humiliating video of that person showing us his path to redemption, on the other hand, is never posted by Rich by the time the film ends.
Opening
Forever Rich opens with a video of Rich taken by his mother when he was a child, in which he confesses that he wants to be famous and a millionaire when he grows up, and then cuts to a present-day shot of Rich enjoying his luxurious lifestyle. The film ends with the same voice of a young Rich in the background, wishing to be famous and a millionaire, but by then we have seen how the present Rich has been devasted and broken down by whatever it has cost him in order to maintain his status as a famous singer, bringing the film to a close and providing an opportunity for the audience to reflect on the negative aspects of a famous life.
Conclusion
Forever Rich is a story about sacrificing the people you care about in order to save the lifestyle you’ve always wanted to live. In this film, we learn about the tragic social media culture that has choked the souls of millions of people around the world. We also learn to be more sensitive and kind towards the content that we see on these platforms.
