‘FYRE’ Review (Netflix Original)
Netflix latest investigative documentary FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened examines the outrageously unbelievable tale of Billy McFarland’s FYRE Festival scandal in 2017. A festival that promised golden beaches, clear blue water, yachts, supermodels and luxury villas of which resulted in tens of thousand attendees left stranded with no water, no power, no beds and no festival to attend and they couldn’t even get off the island.
FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened continues the superb trend of Netflix original documentaries that explore their subject in a manner of intoxicatingly intrusive intent. The depth and exploration of the event that unfolds are superbly meticulous. Any audience member having either little frame of reference or even active participant of events for that matter will be left awestruck with the level of prolific depth the documentary entails. The sheer number of participants is somewhat overwhelming with little unique priority or dedication of the individual’s cause and in sequences excessively evokes a somewhat unneeded self-confidence as well as slightly tone-deaf moments of entitlement. Of which are edited and intercut with stylish office workers ranging from Yoga instructors and influencers who revel in the absurdity only to transition to the devasting financial impact on the locals who have little to nothing left.
Those who have lost far more than a week in the Bahamas and Instagram followers deserved far more screen time and depth, although granted the sheer unbelievable magnitude of a shit show from Billy McFarland needed to be seen to be believed and ultimately takes much of the screen time. However, is this element of somewhat neglect of where FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened would have benefited in a miniseries of sorts to stretch the material out and really detail the impact that unfolded in a more personal direct manner. Significantly missing the public fallout after the festival failed, which is unfortunately rushed and slightly non-existent. Perhaps such a feature would have benefited from gathering more material as times goes on. Resulting in a rather limp and flat landing to an otherwise terrific documentary.
FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened is available to watch on Netflix now.