‘Rotting in the Sun’ Review: Social Media Phenom Jordan Firstman Self-Parodies in Unhinged Indie Satire
Manuel Betancourt “Only the optimist commits suicide, optimists who no longer succeed at being optimists.” The Emil Cioran line, introduced in the first scene of Sebastián Silva’s morbid black comedy “Rotting in the Sun,” initially feels like the key to understanding the Chilean filmmaker’s latest endeavor. “The others,” the quote continues, “having no reason to live, why would they have any to die?” More than merely placing suicide at the heart of Silva’s fictionalized take on himself, the quote’s pop intellectualism sets the tone for what soon becomes, in true Silva fashion, an absurdist meditation on death wishes, social media influencers (the film stars Jordan Firstman, also as himself) and 21st-century nihilism.