‘Pop Pop’ Review – A Wild And Trippy Look At Activism, Influencers, Manosphere & Politics Itself

It is the year 2026, and we, as a country, are still living in the world unleashed by the 2016 election. A decade later, the levies remain unrepaired, and the funnel of dark forces continues to pollute our national discourse and consensus. Much has been written, and indeed much has been said. The world keeps spinning; the gravitational forces at work, fomenting polarization, keep pulling us further apart. The dichotomy between madness and sanity has never been clearer, and yet the world keeps right on spinning.

So it only makes sense to unpack the stranger things that have been happening in the good ol’ USA over the last decade. The film Pop Pop doesn’t offer a diagnosis or a remedy for stopping the madness. However, it satirizes and recontextualizes the political split from 2016 to 2020. Masculinity, social justice, cancel culture, the influencers. It’s a black comedy about coming of age, as much as it is about coming to terms with who we are as a society and where we are circa 2026.

Telling two stories that brilliantly intersect yet bluntly diverge into their own echo chambers, Pop Pop begins as it often does in real life: hope! Dustin (Cashton Tate Rehklau) and his best friend Dibz (Trevor Lown) are graduating from college, and their whole lives lie ahead of them. Of course, they are entering the real world in 2016! As Dustin wrestles with his future, Dibz encourages him to start a web series about the confusion and absurdity of adulthood.

The creation of a web series sets Dustin on a path that will sending spiraling down a rabbit hole of conspiracy and radicalization. Polarized to the right, Dibz takes the opposite approach. He becomes immersed in social activism and begins questioning everything from his sexuality to his identity. At times tongue-in-cheek and at others deadly serious, Pop Pop reckons with where we as a country have been over the past decade, and where we find ourselves today.

The film blends real-world events, including scenes shot at the Stop the Steal rallies, with surrealist animation to tell the story. Dustin begins as an anonymous host of a web series who gains notoriety after he is accused of assaulting an actress, Chrissie (Lena Kutscher), whom he brought on the show. The event sends him into isolation, but also into the arms of radicalization.

The mansplainer plays a major role in shaping his identity after the accusations. He starts making provocative posts and shifts from anonymity to a voice akin to Andrew Tate and other right-wing media personalities who have gained influence and numbers over the last decade.

Pop Pop makes an explicit effort to drum up the comedic elements. There is a general what the hell is happening reaction to both Dustin and Dibz. You have two conventionally normal individuals who, through political channels and societal outlets, both discover themselves but, at the same time, lose themselves.

There is a conversation going on here over how, in the last decade, people have been radicalized — on both the right and the left. The idea of middle ground is shifting and keeps evaporating as the decade pummels along. It leaves a sense that it’s an either-or situation, not so much a “can’t we all just get along?”

The film mocks the shared insanity washing over the country like rogue waves. Yet it also serves as a lesson in context and growth. Arguably, no other decade in recent American history has had such a profound, lasting impact, and it still resonates. Pop Pop neither prescribes a cure nor offers a navigational path forward. Ultimately, the film is a commentary that will intrigue some and infuriate others.

Visually, the film is unique. The imagery has an almost fever-dream quality (which fits with how things have been going). At times psychedelic, it blends unconventional imagery into something elastic that ultimately returns to a recognizable world. At times, the POV puts the audience inside a webshow’s operation.

It is funny, with moments of profound insight. It doesn’t all connect, but it’s still worthwhile. Pop Pop is in the vein of a splatter collage. Thousands of cuts and intriguing imagery that, while confusing at points, still convey an emotional response and a sense of purpose.

Pop Pop will premiere at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival as part of the Rebels With a Cause and Critics’ Pics Competition.

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