American Sweatshop (2025): The Hidden Cost of Cleaning the Internet
Director: Uta Briesewitz
Writer: Matthew Nemeth
Cast: Lili Reinhart, Joel Fry, Daniela Melchior, Jeremy Ang Jones
Producers: Barry Levinson, Tom Fontana, Anita Elsani, Jason Sosnoff
Premiere: SXSW 2025 (Narrative Spotlight)
US Release: September 19, 2025 (limited theaters + VOD)
Introduction
In the digital age, so much of what we consume online feels effortless. We scroll, swipe, and click through curated feeds without stopping to ask: Who makes this safe? Who filters the chaos so we don’t have to?
That’s the dark space Uta Briesewitz’s debut feature, American Sweatshop (2025), explores. Rather than a corporate boardroom or a grand political stage, the story unfolds inside a suffocating workplace — the anonymous offices where content moderators decide what stays online and what must be erased.
At once a psychological thriller, social critique, and character study, American Sweatshop asks what happens when the human beings behind our screens can no longer carry the weight of their work.
Plot Overview (Spoiler-Free)
Daisy Moriarty (Lili Reinhart) is a young woman living paycheck to paycheck, employed as a content moderator for a social media platform. Alongside colleagues Bob (Joel Fry), Ava (Daniela Melchior), and Paul (Jeremy Ang Jones), she spends her days reviewing violent, extremist, and exploitative material.
But Daisy’s world tilts when she stumbles across a video that feels different — too real, too raw. Haunted by the possibility that she has just witnessed an actual crime, Daisy’s professional detachment collapses. Her obsession with finding the source of the video drags her into dangerous territory, where the boundaries between online duty and offline morality blur.
Themes & Ideas
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Invisible Labor: The film exposes the often-ignored workers who clean the internet so others can consume it guilt-free.
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Psychological Erosion: Daisy’s journey dramatizes what studies have already shown: prolonged exposure to disturbing content takes a severe mental toll.
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Ethics of Moderation: Who decides what’s “appropriate”? Is removing content protecting society, or hiding truths that demand exposure?
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Corporate Indifference: The workplace Daisy inhabits feels more like a factory line than a human-centered office, a metaphorical “sweatshop” for the digital age.
Performances
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Lili Reinhart as Daisy: Reinhart delivers her most mature, layered performance to date. Fragile yet fierce, Daisy feels like a fully realized person unraveling before our eyes.
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Joel Fry (Bob): Brings sharp unpredictability — sometimes comic, sometimes unnerving.
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Daniela Melchior (Ava): Adds nuance as a colleague trying to navigate the job’s moral compromises.
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Jeremy Ang Jones (Paul Hui): Functions as the group’s reluctant conscience, grounding the film’s ethical debates.
Style & Direction
Briesewitz leans on her cinematography background to shape the movie’s distinct atmosphere:
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Visuals: Sterile office fluorescents clash with shadowy, neon-drenched exteriors. The contrast mirrors Daisy’s shifting mental state.
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Sound Design: The film uses audio glitches, distorted breathing, and looping static to immerse us in Daisy’s fractured psyche.
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Tone: It walks a line between thriller and drama, with hints of psychological horror.
This stylistic duality sometimes risks tonal imbalance — but it also reinforces the blurred line between Daisy’s real world and the disturbing one she moderates.
Reception at SXSW
At its SXSW premiere:
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Critics praised Reinhart for breaking out of her Riverdale shadow with a fearless lead turn.
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Themes were applauded as timely, especially in an era when AI and human moderation are debated globally.
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Criticisms emerged about the film’s overstuffed ambitions — some felt it tried to juggle too many themes (trauma, corporate negligence, vigilantism) without fully resolving them.
Still, the buzz positioned American Sweatshop as one of SXSW’s most talked-about narrative entries.
Strengths
✅ Lili Reinhart’s commanding performance
✅ A chillingly relevant subject rarely dramatized in mainstream cinema
✅ Strong visual style, marrying claustrophobia with surreal horror
✅ Sparks conversation on labor ethics and digital responsibility
Weaknesses
⚠️ The third act veers into vigilante-thriller territory, dividing critics
⚠️ Supporting characters feel underdeveloped compared to Daisy
⚠️ Some themes compete for attention rather than building a singular, sharp message
Final Verdict
Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5)
American Sweatshop (2025) may not be flawless, but it is urgent cinema. It shines a harsh light on the unseen labor propping up our digital lives, daring audiences to look behind the screen and recognize the trauma outsourced for our comfort.
Uta Briesewitz establishes herself as a bold directorial voice, while Lili Reinhart cements her evolution into a serious, risk-taking actor.
It’s a film that unsettles, provokes, and lingers — precisely what the best socially conscious thrillers should do.
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