26/03/2024 - Henrike Meyer’s movie is a small, intimate doc about feeling lost and stuck in a rut while trying to make it in the film world

This year’s CPH:DOX programme, either deliberately or unintentionally, built a curious thematic bridge between two films – namely, Henrike Meyer’s To Be an Extra and Zia Anger’s US production My First Film. To clarify, the two features are significantly different in terms of their aesthetics and storytelling. Anger’s film is a higher-budgeted, full “re-enactment” of her first “failed” feature-film project, played by a cast made up of professional actors (wherein Odessa Young plays Vita, the director’s alter ego), which she defines as a piece of “autofiction”, whilst Meyer’s is a more self-reflective, meditative documentary. However, both filmmakers share a willingness to show the best and worst of their personalities, and to get deep and intimate. Most importantly, they both make use of filmmaking as a therapeutic tool.

It’s nothing new, but Meyer’s little, heartfelt indie doc (showcased in the Danish festival’s NEXT:WAVE section alongside Anger’s film) is held together by her charismatic presence and her sincerity. In it, we get to know a young, ambitious woman who is stuck working as an extra – or playing really tiny roles – in several TV ads and dramas. The doc is wholly set in Berlin, where Meyer attempts to wangle her way into the film world, but also to play a more prominent role in her own life.

The most appealing aspect explored throughout is the idea of “being nothing” on set, which is efficiently conveyed by Meyer’s voice-over and raw footage from her sets. The fact that her work as an extra is made up of “emptiness” and is even more fake than that of an actor is well rendered, even by simply seeing her standing, hitting random keys on a computer and pretending to chat with other extras who are closer to some video games’ NPCs (non-playable characters) than to real, credible human beings. Therefore, being a cop or a prisoner on set doesn’t make much of a difference, except for necessitating slightly different movements on screen and wearing different clothing. During her “performances”, the camera shows her from different distances, and things get more interesting when we feel we may be peeking at her surreptitiously.

The addition of her conversations with family members and other background players is definitely useful to the narrative, but one may get the feeling that something is still lacking when it comes to exploring her personal and professional crises, and this may be perceived even more as we approach the closure of the narrative arc. It’s true that the movie is based on a lack of achievements and a feeling of incompleteness, but this shallow form of exploration means it can’t be a more compelling, hard-hitting piece.

Nonetheless, To Be an Extra is a solid debut for a director who is now ready to embark on other ventures and tell other stories. Part “rite of passage”, part therapy session, the film is overall appealing enough, and enriched by some meditative moments that are sometimes intriguing.

To Be an Extra was produced by the director herself.