Overview
The end of the year isn't just about having a few days off, feasting on too much food and generally feeling merry. It's also about devouring dystopian visions of humanity's technology-saturated future. Because Black Mirror has become as much a part of Christmas as lazing about and eating too much, the Charlie Brooker-created series has dropped its latest instalment: a choose-your-own-adventure-style movie.
Called Black Mirror: Bandersnatch and available on Netflix right now, the film lets viewers decide what happens next. Yes, it's really just like the Choose Your Own Adventure books that you couldn't get enough of as a kid. At various moments during the movie, two options appear on the screen, asking you to select your preferred course of events. Picking what kind of cereal computer programmer Stefan (Fionn Whitehead) should eat, and what type of music he should listen to, is just the beginning.
Set in 1984, the film follows 19-year-old Stefan as he tries to turn his favourite book, Bandersnatch, into a game — including the novel's branching pathways. His dad (Craig Parkinson) seems supportive, and so does the gaming developer (Asim Chaudhry) who gives him a job, but his programming idol (Will Poulter) keeps making comments about free will.
Where the interactive movie goes from there isn't simply best discovered for yourself — it's decided by you as well. Variety reports that the multiple-choice effort features five main endings, if you're keen to see if you can work your way through them all. Black Mirror: Bandersnatch can be viewed in as little as 40 minutes, although it typically takes 90 minutes to get through.
Before you start literally hitting the remote over and over, here's the trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM0xWpBYlNM
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch is now streaming on Netflix.