At the Fantasia screening of Lifehack, director Ronan Corrigan had already won us over before the film even started. Not present in person, he recorded a message—a full-screen recording of his desktop—where he awkwardly tried to hide a ChatGPT tab asking how to make an intro video, then followed it up with a hilarious plea for people to share their reaction about the movie online, but only if they like it. A condition that he didn’t need to say, because the film speaks for itself. That same clever energy and heart runs throughout Lifehack, which premiered at SXSW in March and now makes its Canadian debut at Fantasia.
Corrigan uses the screenlife format—where the entire story unfolds through computer screens—in new and exciting ways, delivering a clever and tense heist thriller that also works as a surprisingly effective character study of four Gen Z teenagers. For the first time, the format doesn’t feel like a neat trick, but like a real cinematic tool, fully under control. The film moves at a great pace, and the script knows exactly how to manipulate the audience—when to ramp up tension, when to have fun, and when to sneak in significant emotional weight.
The plot follows four teens—Kyle, Alex, Sid, and Petey—who set out to pull off a digital heist by stealing a tech billionaire’s crypto wallet. They start with just a prank and a test of their skills, but soon they are in a situation way above their heads.
A lot of the film has us watching them hack into phones, delay printers, and crack passwords, all done in an enjoyable and surprisingly thrilling way—honestly, more exciting than the last two Mission: Impossible films (don’t even get me started on this year’s disastrous The Amateur—this gives a taste of what that film could have been). And the way Lifehack presents everything—through Discord calls, security cams, livestreams, and shared screens—is both chaotic and incredibly smooth. It doesn’t take long before you forget you’re watching a screenlife film and just get swept up in the story.
What really makes Lifehack stand out, though, is how well it develops its characters, and makes us care for them. From the very first few minutes, through a funny, fast montage, we get a strong sense of who each teen is. The chemistry between the four leads is instantly believable—they feel like real friends, the kind who stay up gaming and talking late into the night. They’re shaped by shared trauma, parental neglect, and that constant Gen Z push for connection and validation. They talk fast, think faster, and throw out so much tech jargon it’s impossible to keep up—but it never matters. Even if you don’t fully grasp what they’re doing, you’re fully invested. The emotions are clear and keep everything grounded.
The film does a great job selling the complexity of what they’re doing. You always feel when something is a serious challenge or when they’re breezing through a task, even if the terminology goes over your head. That contrast—between their youth and their skills—adds a lot. They’re clever and capable, but still very much kids, and the movie uses that balance to great effect (it’s rare to see teenagers written with this much authenticity).
It also helps that the movie flies by without ever feeling rushed. It captures the Gen Z energy of bouncing between ideas and emotions without losing the thread. There are genuine gasp-inducing moments, clever reveals, and a heist sequence that rivals what you’d find in a big-budget thriller. The fact that the whole thing was shot in just 12 days, with a post-production team of only five people, is wild. When that was revealed during the Fantasia Q&A, the audience was stunned—and rightfully so.
Establishing itself as the best screenlife film yet, Lifehack builds the kind of momentum most big-budget thrillers can only dream of. Yet, beneath the high-speed hacking and clever twists, there’s real heart—and a sharp, grounded look at what it feels like to be young and online today. It feels like the screenlife format has finally grown into itself—no longer trying to prove it belongs, but being used to tell compelling stories. As the producer said during the Q&A, cinema needs new energy from younger people to keep it alive and exciting. Lifehack proves her point.