New Movies: The Code (2024) by Eugene Kotlyarenko: Surveillance, Pandemic Paranoia, and Performativity in Love
- dailyentertainment95
- Jun 15
- 5 min read
“A Love Story Under the Eye of 70+ Cameras”
The Code follows Celine and Jay, a couple whose relationship unravels during the early COVID‑19 pandemic. As Celine begins filming a documentary about their failing intimacy, Jay, fearing public cancellation, launches a paranoid surveillance campaign. The result: a high‑concept, screen‑saturated drama-comedy about control, narrative, and how love is distorted when every moment is watched—even performed.
Summary Short
Celine’s attempt to document her crumbling relationship sparks Jay’s spiral into surveillance obsession. He installs hidden cameras everywhere, hoping to trap her while preserving his own image. As their lives become a kaleidoscope of screens, videos, and voyeurism, both must confront whether authentic connection is still possible—or if everything has become a curated performance.
Link IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32842974/
About movie: https://visitfilms.com/the-code/
Link to watch: https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-code-2025 (US), https://www.justwatch.com/au/movie/the-code-2025 (Australia), https://www.justwatch.com/ca/movie/the-code-2025 (Canada), https://www.justwatch.com/uk/movie/the-code-2025 (UK), https://www.justwatch.com/it/film/the-code-2025 (Italy)
Detailed Summary
Set in pandemic‑stricken 2021, The Code immerses us in Celine and Jay’s isolated world. Celine films a documentary on lockdown’s impact on relationships; Jay, newly “cancelled” online, suspects ulterior motives and responds by out‑filming her—over 70 cameras capture their every move. What begins as control escalates into absurd theatricality: erotic, performative episodes, memes, hidden spy footage. A contrasting couple’s sudden marriage forces introspection: can they build true intimacy when every moment is orchestrated for an audience? The film climaxes with a surreal escape-room sequence—then a mythic end taking on biblical tones—questioning if love can survive in a hyper-mediated existence.
Plot Summary
Celine's Documentary Project: Celine films her relationship's breakdown during COVID for a documentary.Jay fears this is a smear campaign.
Jay's Surveillance Setup: He installs dozens of cameras to catch Celine in a compromising light.The couple becomes entrapped in their own spectacle.
Screen‑Heavy Aesthetic: The film amasses footage from GoPros, TikToks, drone shots—highlighting screenlife immersion.This aesthetic reflects digital-age intimacy and paranoia.
Reflection Through Another Couple: A whirlwind courtship and marriage elsewhere offers a mirror to their dysfunction.It forces Celine and Jay to evaluate their own performative intimacy.
Escape-Room Climax & Biblical Finale: The narrative culminates in a metaphorical code-cracking exercise inside an escape room, leading to a stylized Eden-like ending under surveillance.Even then, cameras remain—can authenticity exist?
Director’s Vision
Archival Screenlife Experimentation: Kotlyarenko aims to make a “second-screen movie” that demands full attention by channeling the digital overload of pandemic
Surveillance as Satire: The narrative dissects how social media-driven voyeurism has eroded intimacy and fueled
Genre‑Blending Comedy and Drama: The film leverages absurdity and mockumentary elements to explore serious themes like cancellation culture and
Themes
Digital Surveillance & Voyeurism: Cameras everywhere blur boundaries between authentic and curated.filmfactual.com
Cancel Culture Anxiety: Jay’s compulsive filming indicates deep insecurity about reputation in a judgemental internet
Intimacy in the Digital Age: Their relationship highlights how connection is mediated and performative.
Pandemic Isolation: The setting amplifies surveillance and self-consciousness, mirroring collective digital disquiet.
Key Success Factors
Inventive Cinematic Style: Use of 70+ cameras and screenlife montage immerses viewers in the digital moment.
Sharp Satire: The film cleverly critiques attention culture, lockdown absurdities, and online narcissism.
Strong Performances: Dasha Nekrasova and Peter Vack effectively embody the neuroses of their screen-obsessed
Balance of Humor & Mood: Absurdist humor and dramatic undertones coexist well, punctuated by moments of real pathos.
Awards & Nominations
The Code debuted in festivals like Fantasia and Leeds, earning praise for its inventive form. Though formal awards are limited, the film stands out as a notable experimental comedy with strong festival reception.
Critics Reception
InSession Film (Fantasia Review): Labels it a “colossal waste of time” due to shallow provocation and weak character exploration.
MovieMaker: Calls it “perhaps the most funny and accurate pandemic movie,” praising its screen-life immersion.
InReview Online (Fantasia): Calls it “genuinely funny” and “astonishing” in its filmmaking ambition.
Film Matters Magazine (Cucalorus): Appreciates its mockumentary approach and meta-narrative, though the genre-blend occasionally blurs reality.
Overall Summary: Critics are divided—some hail its ingenuity and topical satire, others fault it for emotional detachment and surface-level critique.
Reviews
Rotten Tomatoes: No formal critic ratings yet, though audience reaction is mixed.
Columbia Review: Highlights the sad‑funny tension of living “extremely online” and the absurdity of surveillance-coded intimacy.
The Code coverage across niche press: Generally praised for its bold use of screenlife and irony-laced portrayal of pandemic relationships.
Overall Summary: Commonly lauded for style and satire, but criticized for lacking deeper emotional clarity and character understanding.
Production Summary
An American independ ent production by Qwiksand and Spacemaker Productions, The Code leans heavily on digital and guerrilla-style filmmaking, using minimal crew and a plethora of consumer cameras to capture its pandemic-era intimacy.
Production Companies
Qwiksand and Spacemaker Productions (USA) collaborated on the film, continuing Kotlyarenko’s tradition of producing tech-fluent, boundary-pushing screenlife experiments.
Sales Summary
Festival screenings at Fantasia, Leeds, Cucalorus, and others suggest a sales strategy focused on niche festival circuits and digital rights rather than broad international theatrical distribution. Sales Companies: Visit Films
Distribution Companies
Monument Releasing
Release date on streaming
No confirmed streaming release at present; likely to be made available via digital-on-demand platforms after festival run.
Theatrical Release
Premiered at Fantasia (July 2024), followed by European festival screenings (Leeds, Cucalorus), but no wide theatrical rollout announced.
Why to Recommend Movie
Bold formal experimentation: A bonkers screenlife mosaic capturing the pandemic psyche.
Topical satire: Smart critique of cancel culture, surveillance obsession, and online intimacy.
Laughs & discomfort: Absurd humor mixed with uneasy emotional truths.
Why to Watch Movie
Fresh take on pandemic cinema: Far from earnest distancing films—this one is raw, meta, and provocative.
Tech‑heavy aesthetics: A visual/aural overload that mirrors daily screen experience.
Strong lead chemistry: Nekrasova and Vack bring believable tension to performative paranoia.
Movie Trend
The Code follows the “Screenlife & Pandemic Noir” trend—a hybrid of screen-based storytelling and dark comedy born from COVID-era social dynamics.
Social Trend
The film taps into “Digital Self-Surveillance Culture,” spotlighting how COVID isolation accelerated performative authenticity and hypervigilant self-presentation online.
Final Verdict
The Code is a daring, high-concept experiment that challenges conventional storytelling with layered surveillance aesthetics and satirical bite. Though not emotionally deep for all viewers, its formal inventiveness and cultural reflection make it worthwhile for fans of meta-cinema and digital-age commentary.
Recommendations for Filmmakers
Embrace form-driven storytelling: Experiment with multiple device types and formats to evoke themes.
Weave narrative and medium: Let the structure (70+ cameras) reveal character psychology.
Balance satire with sincerity: Ensure emotional stakes aren’t lost beneath stylistic bravado.
Update mockumentary form: Use screenlife methods to refresh and modernize traditional formats.
Recommendations for Movie Industry
Support hybrid storytelling: Invest in films combining screenlife, satire, and intimate drama.
Festival-first strategy: Use genre festivals to build audience and press momentum for unconventional projects.
Expand digital platforms: Leverage VOD/streaming for niche, tech-heavy films post-festival.
Highlight relevant themes: Promote introspection on surveillance, pandemic behavior, and digital culture.
Final Conclusions
The Code is a visually bold, conceptually provocative film that captures the absurd intimacy—and paranoia—of lockdown-era romance. Eugene Kotlyarenko’s screen-saturated satire resonates as a time capsule of hyper-mediated lives. Though its emotional core may feel elusive, the film’s inventiveness, thematic relevance, and comedic audacity mark it as a standout in pandemic-era cinema.
Sources
Comments