Blackberry (2023)
I remember the days when everyone in school was using Blackberries with the cool keyboards and their BBM service. The company was ruling the market and no one could have imagined that one day not only will they lose its leadership position, but it will cease to exist altogether. The general consensus is that Blackberry became obsolete because the company failed to catch up to the smartphones and evolve in a correct way. This film tells a more complete version of the story in terms of what happened behind closed doors and the reason why everything came crashing down.
The movie begins in the 90s with a Canadian company named Research in Motion trying to reinvent the mobile phone business. Their two leaders Mike and Doug have a bright vision and the scientific know-how but lack the business acumen to make their idea a reality. During one of their pitches, a man named Jim gets intrigued by their idea and decides to come on board and help get the company off the ground. As the movie progresses, we get to see both the human and the business elements of the story and how closely they come together to both build Blackberry and destroy it.
This is clearly a low budget movie but it never feels second rate because of the clean and efficient way in which it tells this large story. The actors and director are rather unknown and because of that, more focus is put towards the narrative and its execution. With that being said, everyone involved puts in the effort to bring drama, humor and tension to their roles. The quick, sharp and witty nature makes it feel like a mix between Social Network and Succession as the film doesn't waste a single minute and ends when it's supposed to. Blackberry might be gone but hopefully this film will shed some light and teach a couple of lessons to those who watch it.
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