If you've ever been to a music festival, you know how so much crazy, unreal stuff goes down on the grounds. Something about the anticipation of finally seeing your favorites in person, the feeling that you're with like-minded people—your people—and the suspension of reality for one whole day. With inhibitions checked at the gate, it feels like anything could happen. And since festivals tend to bring people together, you expect to bump into old friends and frenemies, the past and present colliding to create a trippy near future.
There's the being seen and the getting snapped, of course, but there's also the noticing. And you notice so much, like the first timer who doesn't quite know how to let loose yet, the squad with the contour and highlight game on point despite the humidity, the couple you follow on Instagram who are in the middle of a fight. There's so much to notice, to distract yourself with while waiting for your band, your artist for the best 45 minutes of your year.
This is what XOXO, a Netflix original movie, is about. Also the name of the film's fictional EDM festival (not related to the Portland festival IRL), XOXO attracts all kinds of people: the bedroom DJ about to get his big break, the best friend/producer who really cannot afford to be late, the hopeless romantic excited to meet the guy she's been chatting with, the couple who may or may not be in a long distance relationship the next day, the grinch who's long been disillusioned by the scene, and the party bus crew clad in rainbow colors, gossamer wings, and glitter, lots and lots of glitter.
You see how their lives crisscross, how one decision affects another, how their luck changes in a snap. Before you know it, the main act is about to come on (of course you can’t leave now; you tell your bladder to kindly wait). You throw your hands up in the air (because you do care) and you cheer for these people finally getting it right. Hopes were crushed, romantics disillusioned, but in that moment, everything is more than okay.
As one character notes, "Don't forget to enjoy the party—you'll be home facing your computer soon enough."
Starring Sarah Hyland and Graham Phillips, XOXO is available on Netflix. Watch the full trailer below.
