Noclip (2024) (USA)

⭐️⭐️1/2

Two young dopes embark on an adventure, seeking out the backrooms of the Crown Center Mall in Kansas City, MO and filming all of it with a smartphone. Rambling and smoking pot, the two fellas wander around for a bit and seem to only have the vaguest idea of the goal they’re looking to achieve… or maybe the goal is vague by its very nature. Sure they mention “the backrooms” plenty but locked doors and camera glitches are the only hint of something strange in the early going. The slow fade into liminal space lore involves no-clipping out of reality in the “wrong” area and ending up in the claustrophobic yet labyrinthine backrooms made popular by the web series of the same name. It’s an interesting idea and easily rendered on the micro-budget our team is working with. Minimally surreal mumblecore found footage is an off-putting tango between boredom and intrigue but may not feel worth the hour of your time if you’re not willing to be hypnotized by the vast nothingness on display. I think that’s the point but I could also just be a fucking idiot.