In Theaters and On Demand on September 19, 2025, through Brainstorm Media, American Sweatshop creates an image of the near future, emphasizing the importance of digital media in our daily lives, and twists its way into the perverted yet unavoidable realities of humanity in a digital age. Directed by Uta Briesowitz (who has worked on series such as Stranger Things and The Wheel of Time), the film shows how workers of a video moderation service must use their empathy to determine their purpose in life. A simple concept that successfully captures the likely reality of the future of employment with computers.
As computers and digital media continue to sap our attention every day, and we become more and more comfortable with our online citizenship, we are bound to come across a video that disturbs us in some way. Whether through violence, sexual misconduct, or abuse, the sludge pile of unwanted and outright dangerous media on the internet is an undeniable fact. Everyone has been scared for a few days by at least one video online that was just one click too many in a strange rabbit hole of curiosity. Death, gore, and kink play are the peculiar curves and crevices of the internet that most people stay away from, but here, watching these videos is a way of living.
Daisy (played by Lily Reinhart, known for her role in Riverdale, among others) is one of these video moderators, and she spends her days sitting in an open-concept office with 30 other viewing slaves. At the same time, their jerkoff boss watches over them and makes sure they are following the constantly updated standards from upper management.
One issue with this story is the cast of characters, which are left half-baked and play no part in the plot development besides one moment of selfish self-revelation from Jeremy Ang Jones’s character, Paul. The side characters are each unique and intriguing, with their own stories and fascinations, but not enough information is provided about Daisy’s coworkers, who are only half the story. Balancing the work is Daisy’s chaotic personal life, which is always short on time and romantically embarrassing. Reinhart’s character is well written and responds intriguingly to the situation she has found herself in. There is plenty to enjoy in her performance and in the breakdown of sanity as she pursues the creator of a disturbing snuff film.
And now here we are at the center of American Sweatshop, which is again, bifold. There are two beating hearts to American Sweatshop: two different themes the movie explores. First, the necessity of human emotion in the digital age; second, the consequences of following your obsessions. Throughout the film, Daisy is given the choice to continue her life as normal multiple times, but each time, her body compels her to uncover the mystery of the snuff. It’s a little silly to say out loud, and the actual plot is outlandish in full view. Daisy’s character abandons her life to find the man who was watching another man make a snuff film in a video she found at her job because she felt bad about the girl in the movie. After all, she believed the film in question to be real and not staged. However, the film successfully builds a world in which mental breakdown is not only normalized but also expected.
This brings us to the most successful part of the film, the character interactions. Within the American Sweatshop, there are no rules of morals and conduct, and workers can drink, smoke, and masturbate to their hearts’ content. The only criterion, of course, is that they hit their quota of videos moderated for their company. This sort of segmented lower caste of people is subject to a breakdown of moral understanding as they are forced to watch a grotesque video daily. The result is evident in the eclectic attitudes and the complete acceptance of emotional outbursts in the office. This creates some hilarious moments in which the serious tone of the setting and film is broken by a worker raging about burning the building down or by Daisy lighting up a spliff during her break. Another good thing about this film is the conventional use of drugs. Within this future world, it is very likely that jobs like these would be filled with alcohol and marijuana use, as well as pill-popping, to numb the mind from the absurd horror of everyday activity on the jobsite. The normalization of drug usage in this film made a much more believable story because it is an acknowledgement of the underside of humanity.
It is this exact underside that fuels the entire film. What makes its ending feel gratifying is not the actions Daisy takes, but the fact that her mind has been entirely made up throughout her journey to pursue her obsession. It is heartbreaking and gratifying at the same time. You are watching a woman who wants so hard to be a good person, to believe in a good world, but every single thing she interacts with is pointing her towards the deepest, darkest pits of humanity, and she must react accordingly. That is why Cryptic Rock gives American Sweatshop 3.5 out of 5 stars.
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