Mainstream

Mainstream is a 2020 American comedy-drama film directed by Gia Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Tom Stuart. It stars Andrew Garfield, Maya Hawke, Nat Wolff, Johnny Knoxville and Jason Schwartzman. Set in West Hollywood, California, the film follows struggling young filmmaker Frankie (Hawke) who achieves success after meeting up with Link (Garfield), a strange and bold man living off the grid. It had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 5, 2020. It was released on May 7, 2021, by IFC Films. The film received negative reviews from critics. Plot Frankie is a young filmmaker living in West Hollywood. Having dropped out of school to pursue her dreams of making art, she is working a thankless job bartending with her friend Jake and has no clear vision of her goals other than creating a struggling YouTube channel. One day she encounters Link, an eccentric young man working as a costumed mascot in a mall. When Frankie claims to have been filming a painting behind Link and not Link himself, Link grabs the painting and performs a rambling but passionate monologue urging passersby to pay attention to the art. Frankie records the monologue and uploads it where it quickly becomes her most popular video. Frankie later re-encounters Link by chance and befriends him. The often-manic Link claims that his parents are dead and that he is firmly anti-establishment and anti-social media.