From all of these suspicious actions, these consumers should be reasonably concerned, and hopefully, they would ask for a refund after theyve smelled a scam, but the majority of people just wrote it off as a weird incident and decided to still go on the trip. Titled Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened, Chris Smith's film is a fairly straightforward accounting of the failed event that triggered a maelstrom of social-media schadenfreude in. It promised guests happiness and then made them miserable. Who could imagine a delusional narcissist of such humongous nerve could fool so many? Fyre is a document of a disaster, speaking to a number of the key players behind the scenes, although never McFarland himself (he is a part of Fyre Fraud, and this great piece by Scott Tobias details the controversy there). A group of young adults share their last week of . Fyre Review: Netflix Documentary Takes on Influencer Cultureand Hulu If you wanted, say, supermodel Gigi Hadid to attend your party, you could log in to Fyre, pay your money and she'd be there. Dramedy revisits famous festival, complete with drugs, sex. Fyre. [6] According to Netflix, the documentary was Smith's idea. Written and directed by Julia Willoughby Nason and Jenner Furst, "Fyre Fraud" is much stranger than fiction, and yet it tells a story that makes perfect sense in the age of influencers and the general need to be seen. AP, And most people who know McFarlandthink the 27-year-old will be back after his stint behind bars. As the documentary profiles McFarland in detail, he's proven to bea perfect match for the superficiality of influencer culture given his status as a compulsive liar and an updated dictionarys definition of a con man. Its a tie. A young entrepreneur called Billy McFarland was working with rapper Ja Rule on an app called Fyre, which was designed to let ordinary people book talent. The Two Fyre Festival Docs Show Very Different Sides of - Esquire Fyre (2018) - Fyre (2018) - User Reviews - IMDb And one restaurant owner claims she spent about $50,000 (Dh184,000) of her savings paying staff, whose wages should have been covered by the festival organisers. The documentary never really reconciles that conflict, which is a shame because when Fyre Fraud gets serious, it asks some hard questions about modern advertising, social media, "FOMO" (fear . As noted in this Ringer piece by Scott Tobias, Hulus Fyre Fraud, directed by Julia Willoughby Nason and Jenner Furst, also features an interview with McFarland that the filmmakers paid to acquire, along with some behind-the-scenes footage. Season Review; THE LAST OF US Season 1 Episodes 2-5: Whoa, We're Halfway There. Why is it that the festival was such a huge disaster? FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened - Netflix Powerful Stories About Martin Luther King Jr. Popular YouTubers' Books for Kids and Teens. Cinemark The locals who built the site were never paid. Billy McFarland bilked everyone he laid eyes on, even the people who were most loyal to him. The Netflix documentary interviews multiple people who were involved with Billy McFarland at any point in time, whether it be from his former company, Magnises, or the employees who worked directly with McFarland on Fyre Festival itself. How Fyre Festival's organizer scammed investors out of $26 million - CNBC There's just one problem: It's not going to happen. Some festival-goers were even being yelled at over the phone being demanded to put money on their bands. Families can talk about the intentions of documentary filmmaking: to inform, to entertain, to inspire, or to persuade. Some festival-goers were even being yelled at over the phone being demanded to put money on their bands. Netflix's new documentary, Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened, is clueing everyone else in on the dramaand giving those of us who thought we knew all of the debacle's hairy details. From Fyre Fraud, a stable narrative arises of where that came from,like with his steel credit card company Magnises, (which only provided the image of having a fancy credit card) further poking holes into the facade that some of the most successful have any idea of what they're doing. Mesmerizing mature drama with just a bit of sex, violence. "It really pains me when I have to talk about it.". customers. Think about how awareness and common sense can protect you from such scams. The Wagner opera returns to the Met for the first time in 17 years. The Fyre Festival Instagram was posting recycled pictures from the same photoshoot that was shot in Normans Cay, which was not factual. We already know that Billy McFarland, the young huckster behind the festival, a charlatan with a vacant smile, is a convicted felon. Excellent film depicting the power of social media, celebrity status and hyperbolic culture that allows mediocre business people to play pretend with real life dire consequences. Music, Emily Ratajkowski, Migos, Lil Yachty, Hailey Bieber (formerly Hailey Baldwin), Diplo and many more. How Tyrel Jackson Williams Brought TikTok Cringe to, Its sort of a newer version of the L.A. actor ride that Kyle is on the first two seasons, but its worse.. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us. The festival, he insists, must go ahead. Fyre is a story of shallow excesshow were in an era in which how something looks is more important than what it actually isbut its also a reminder that everything still has a cost. Things you buy through our links may earnVox Mediaa commission. The tents, meanwhile, which are supposed to be luxury, are left-over hurricane tents. Oh, and by the way, keep your eyes open during the footage of McFarland on bail, when hes running a new con from his penthouse at the Tuscany Hotel. suggesting a diversity update. Short staffing: No one wants to work, but why. You can often tell a great documentary from the care that is put intotalking head interviews, of which Fyre Fraud is a textbook example. The parents' guide to what's in this movie. For the rest of us, , there was more than a hint of schadenfreude in watching the whole thing unfold in real time. There is a brief window when there is still time to pull it off, but nothing ever seems to happen. This statement during the jaw-dropping "Fyre," a new Netflix documentary about the disastrous 2017 Fyre Festival (and an interesting partner with the also-new Hulu documentary " Fyre Fraud ") really gets at the core of who Billy McFarland was during this entire crash-and-burn nightmare. Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix have broken up after he allegedly cheated on her with Raquel Leviss. Schadenfreude on Twitter is fun and all, but the spectacle of white moneyed elites defrauding a Caribbean workforce makes our delight at what happened at Fyre seem small. Mattressesand tentsfor attendees of Fyre Festival. It was, Scores of celebrities and influencers were paid (or offered a free ticket) to post a cryptic orange tile, with a link to the Fyre Festival website, on their Instagram feeds. and, all the while, the clock is ticking. Luxury lodgings and the finest cuisine was also pledged. Ja Rule and Billy McFarland, the organizers of Fyre. Maryann Rolle, the owner of the Exuma Point Restaurant, hosted festival attendees when they arrived on the island and spent $50,000 of her personal savings to pay local workers who never saw a dime from Fyre Fest. With its exclusive, paid-for interview, Fyre Fraud enables McFarland to incriminate himself by appearing on-camera and refusing to directly answer key questions the documentarians pose. It is a classic tale of hubris. Fyre Festival, built entirely on social media buzz, is the physical representation of the chasm between the real and the fake, the haves and the have-nots. Here was the toxicity of social media for all to see: a sunbaked scene of disaster tents, soaked mattresses, and millennials with roller bags looking wide-eyed and dehydrated. The Netflix documentary is more professionally done. Its only right that a pair of documentaries focused on an event designed to exploit those who suffer from FOMO should elicit their own form of FOMO. Thousands of wealthy young people traveled to an island in the Bahamas for a weekend that was heavily marketed as a "luxury" trip of partying and music, only to find that it was a gigantic disaster perpetrated by a corrupt "entrepreneur" with a big smile and an endless supply of audacity. I do not like that the films have also been giving more attention to the perpetrator in question, Billy McFarland, which is exactly what he wanted to receive from his multiple business ventures and scams, such as Fyre Festival and Magnises, to get more publicity then find more investors to give him money to make another scam. 2023 Vox Media, LLC. In particular, staff members Andy Hill and Marc Weinstein offer unexpectedly open, personal recollections. I think about her tearful face and Im fascinated by the ripple effect of models cavorting on a beach to this hard-working woman being taken advantage of. We want to hear what you have to say but need to verify your email. Chris Smiths Fyre deftly understands this, never turning into the millennial schadenfreude it easily could have become. The Fyre Festival Instagram was posting recycled pictures from the same photoshoot that was shot in Normans Cay, which was not factual. What follows is a series of small calamities as a site is secured and plans are futilely attempted. FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened - Netflix But a brilliant new documentary on Netflix, , shows that the real victims of this ill-fated project were not the hoodwinked people who went, but the Bahamian people. Toward the end, it shows footage of McFarland on bail, yet living in a hotel penthouse, while a partner in his latest scam tries to persuade previous Fyre Festers to drop tons of cash on tickets to events like the Met Gala and the Grammys. By coincidence, presumably, these streaming movies are almost exactly the same length. Sometimes shot in profile close-up, his sharp eyes are the most fascinating nature,flickering as they process his next lie while his face tries to look clueless, disarmed. Nason & Furst have a welcoming flashinesswhen telling this story, cutting quickly between talking head interviews, select archive footageandvarious accentuatingclips from pop culture, as if it were taking that filmmaking method back fromsecond-stage Adam McKay movies The Big Short and Vice. These clips can be appropriately hit and miss, especially if things are too on-the-nose, like a whack-a-mole insert meant to accompany McFarland's comparing of his self-made problems to the futility of that game. The two starts promoting Fyre festival on a tropical island. After eight lawsuits were brought against him relating to Fyre Festival,he was sentenced in October to six years in prison for fraud. But both movies are unflinching in their examination of what happened in the lead-up, execution (or lack of execution), and aftermath of Fyre Fest, and diverge just enough in terms of tone and information to make both worthwhile. Where do filmmaker Chris Smith's sympathies lie? The fact that (1) McFarland asked him to do this because he considered King their gay leader, and (2) King continued to work for the guy afterward is utterly astounding. The Netflix documentary, Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened, focuses on the disastrous build-up to the event - which was organised by businessman Billy McFarland. Premise [ edit] The truth is we love to be sold stufffantasies of popularity, the promise of cachet and status, lies upon lies upon lies. Despite the early-season drama, its still (almost) anyones game to win. Dont worry, it wont take long. The only good news is that, since the documentary, an online fund has been set up for, If this turns out to be true, one thing is not in doubt. Do you think social media/the internet should bear significant responsibility for the disaster? Fyre also gets more granular as it recounts the festivals eye-popping budget ($38 million on building stages, $3.5 million to pay performers) and shoddy logistics, like how the event ended up on a gravelly patch of Great Exuma, rather than Normans Cay, an island famous for its connections to drug lord Pablo Escobar, because McFarland and his colleagues were kicked off the latter location. The tents, meanwhile, which are supposed to be luxury, are, It goes on and on, but even when the money runs out and the lie. For each of them, including unpaid Bahamian workers, it was a financial fiasco and a commitment unfulfilled. FYRE - Netflix Documentary Film Review 18/01/2019 by Greg Wheeler How Not To Throw A Party Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened is an engrossing, shocking documentary that sheds light on one of the biggest flops in festival history. "Fyre" - Netflix's version of a pair of dueling documentaries - is positively bonkers, a feature-length look at the planned Fyre music festival that went spectacularly awry . Scores of celebrities and influencers were paid (or offered a free ticket) to post a cryptic orange tile, with a link to the Fyre Festival website, on their Instagram feeds. So where did it all go wrong? Fyre director Chris Smith (American Movie and The Yes Men) has experience crafting stories about guys with big dreams and the capacity to pull off long cons, and he has a great instinct for finding the most damning anecdotes. You\'ll receive the next newsletter in your inbox. McFarland had a crowd, now he just needed a festival. Which means youre the real winner, because you get to watch both of these very good documentaries. Stay up-to-date on all the latest Rotten Tomatoes news! And yet he plows through with Fyre Festival with the help of investors and support from Ja Rule (looking to fall into success) and the absurd sidekick Grant Margolin (referred to as McFarland's Dwight Schrute). Fyre Fraud lays out more information about McFarlands background and his pre-Fyre endeavors, including a failed, exclusive credit-card company that targeted millennials and should have served as a red flag that Fyre, an app that basically functioned as an Uber for talent booking, and its related fest might not come together as planned. Viewers who may laugh loud and long at the "trials and tribulations" of the very rich people who were the marks of such an outrageous con man will certainly feel the poignancy of the many who were swindled out of time and money. "They just wiped it out and never looked back," she says, her voice cracking. You can help us help kids by In turn, Chris Smith, the director of Netflix's film, has called foul on one of Fyre Fraud's aces . Written and directed by Julia Willoughby Nason and Jenner Furst, Fyre Fraud is much stranger than fiction, and yet it tells a story that makes perfect sense in the age of influencers and the general need to be seen. Within 48 hours, 95 per cent of tickets had sold. Fyre Festival Was a Huge Scam. Is Netflix's Fyre Documentary a Scam Fyre (film) - Wikipedia There is definitely storytelling overlap in these documentaries, which both cover the mix of hype and lack of infrastructure that lead up to the last weekend in April 2017, when Fyre Festival-goers arrived on Great Exuma Island to discover tents, mattresses sitting on the side of the road, and slapdash sandwiches instead of the glamp-y villas and gourmet meals they were promised. Knowing the basics doesnt detract from Fyre, the Netflix documentary that starts streaming Friday, or Fyre Fraud, which surprise dropped on Hulu earlier this week. In what way(s) is this movie a cautionary tale? Fyre Festival: Inside the world's biggest festival flop - BBC News Who is adversely affected by the misbehavior of Billy McFarland? Fyre smolders with agonizing tension when a party in paradise goes awry, but this slickly assembled documentary reserves its greatest horror for damning observations about the dangers of wealth. The account directed them to their Fyre Festival FAQ email, but the emails sent were never returned. These people were burnt by Fyre and are still trying to recover. Fyre Festival Documentary Summary and Review, The film gives audience members a deeper insight into the inner workings of Fyre Festival and provides a definitive timeline to when the idea of Fyre and Fyre festival came to be and the disaster that was created in the Summer of 2016. We want to hear what you have to say but need to verify your account. Having watched both documentaries, I think its fair to say that Fyre Fraud is tougher on Jerry Media, also known as Fuck Jerry, and its efforts to promote an event that falsely advertised what it could deliver. Bad Projection Is Ruining the Movie Theater Experience, 6 Stand-ups Analyze ChatGPTs Attempts to Steal Their Jobs, Travis Barkers Finger Is Now the Enema of Blink-182 Fans. This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. So, how can you decide which Fyre Festival documentary is most suited to your interests? Just below that it reads "Ticket Confirmation#:" followed by a 10-digit number. A young entrepreneur called Billy McFarland was working withrapper Ja Rule on an app called Fyre, which was designed to let ordinary people book talent. Vogue may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Excellent account of youngest FBI's Most Wanted. And what should you take from this documentary? One thing that the audience should take away from the film is DO NOT go to a festival without doing proper research and see the signs of a scam. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google The Netflix documentary, Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened, investigates the infamous Fyre Festival and its co-founders Billy McFarlandand 90s rapper Ja Rule. The latest fashion news, beauty coverage, celebrity style, fashion week updates, culture reviews, and videos on Vogue.com. Spring Day Podcast with Kristen Teagarden and Leora Winter, Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened,, posted a burnt orange tile on their Instagram, 90% of tickets were sold in the first 48 hours, Future of LGBTQ Community at Reinhardt University. Within 48 hours, 95 per cent of tickets had sold. It was like all beautiful beaches and sunsets, festival consultant Marc Weinstein says in the Netflix film, describing his social-media feed while working on the event. Guests arrive at Fyre Festival. We won't share this comment without your permission. Fyre is the stronger, more worthwhile documentary, but its counterpart is a helpful reminder that, like so many stories, one account can't contain the whole truth. Parents need to know that Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened is a documentary that details the events leading to the Fyre Festival, a 2017 music event that was over-hyped, sold out and a complete fraud. And it worked. The pair started the festival in 2016 to promote their new talent booking agency with the same name, Fyre. Offscreen, he was one himself. And Billy left her high and dry, not paying her or her employees. No one knew the inner workings of Fyre Festival until the documentaries surfaced, so people know what to do as consumers and what to watch out for, as well as expose McFarland as the criminal that he is and continues to be. The Netflix documentary, "Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened," investigates the infamous Fyre Festival and its co-founders Billy McFarland and 90s rapper Ja Rule. To launch the app, McFarland envisions the biggest, most luxurious music festival of all time. The Netflix documentary has received some backlash because it was produced by a company called, F*ck Jerry, who worked closely on the production and social media advertising of Fyre Festival and filmed most of the candid footage seen in the documentary. Hopefully, through the documentaries, McFarland does not bring up new business ventures, such as he was trying to do in the past with the 2017 Fyre Festival. Jason Statham and Aubrey Plaza do not seem like a match made in action-comedy-chemistry heaven, but it somehow works. The documentary plays like a thriller. Following Billy (a young entrepreneur) as he recruits big name performers like Ja Rule and worldwide models like Emily Ratajkowski, his big plan is to create the biggest music festival the world has ever seen. We wont be able to verify your ticket today, but its great to know for the future. That's human nature; it's why we love watching comics flopon stage. happiness and then made them miserable. Overall, this is a film that needs to be seen, due to the fact that people ned to know that things like this happen on a daily basis. It really pains me when I have to talk about it, so I just wipe it away.. If these people would have noticed the signs beforehand, they would not be as upset when they watched the other poor souls on the island that had to sleep on wet beds from the storm the night before. You dont have to dig for contacts, you just go to Fyre and get a quote. . It's off-putting and out of place, but the documentary becomes more confident with its tone the more it chugs along. Those who like to laugh at rich white people and scoff at impressionable millennials will get the most bang for their buck on Hulu. Call it product placement, but it also makes for apt metaphors that speak to the same absurd tone, likewhen someone compares McFarlands ventures to those of Jean-Ralphio and Tom Haverfords on Parks & Recreation, their own failed Entertainment 720 business only excelling at displaying flashy nonsense. Fyre was surrounded by sketchiness before it was even released. That world isn't available to everyone. This is why I encourage audience members to watch both films to get both sides of the story. If these people would have noticed the signs beforehand, they would not be as upset when they watched the other poor souls on the island that had to sleep on wet beds from the storm the night before. Luxury lodgings and the finest cuisine was also pledged. *Sorry, there was a problem signing you up. ", considered these stories when we gleefully shared images of a bad cheese sandwich? Its easy to laugh at much of thisand you dobut your laughter fades as the documentary goes on. FYRE - Netflix Documentary Film Review | The Review Geek Catastrophic decisions stack up as fast as the bills, which amount to some $30 million. the Terms and Policies, and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes. But watching him actually doing it in the Netflix one because, of course, he hired a videographer to film it all makes it that much more outrageous. A rival doc was. They really, really, really, really hurt me, she says in tears. It's a Netflix documentary of the horrible failure of a modern social media tropical island event or a fraudulent scam. If you chose to provide an email address, it will only be used to contact you about your comment. All rights reserved. Meanwhile, Netflixs Fyre lacks a sit-down with McFarland, but was co-executive produced by Elliot Tebele, founder of Jerry Media, the social-media agency that was a key promotion partner in Fyre Festival. After all of these events, the people who decided to go were met with a barren wasteland with dingy tents. 'Fyre' review: Netflix documentary torches 'influencer' culture behind McFarland speaks in a room that's revealed to be large and empty, and perhaps staring into the abyss he has made, calls itominous. Making me literally hold my breath in expectation for every next bit of information with a story that is too bizarre and hilariously insane to be fiction, this is a superbly edited documentary about what happens when you put too much power in the hands of a pathetic playboy. Has anyone ever called you a compulsive liar? the filmmakers ask him. Sure enough, when the guests arrive, it is worse than you could possibly imagine: not enough accommodation, not enough food, not enough of anything. Brian Tallerico is the Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. Not that many lessons seemto have been learnt, however.