Underrated actor Gabriel Basso flexes his scriptwriting and directorial chops with chilling thriller, Iconoclast. Best known for roles in Netflix’s The Night Agent and movies including Super 8, The Kings of Summer, and the recent Strangers trilogy, Basso’s latest is unlike any other roles he has done before. He plays Connor, a straight white male seemingly content in the monotony of pining for a cutesy streamer. Every day, Connor watches Nika’s live streams, work a lifeless shift at Uncle D’s TV, and sculpts his own body to maintain the perfect physique. How far will Connor go to impress Nika (Courtney Eaton)? Iconoclast is a mixed bag of clashing tones, grounded by Basso’s outstanding lead performance.
With bleached hair and rippling muscles, Connor looks pretty perfect from an eye candy perspective. So why doesn’t he have a real significant other? He spends every waking moment training for “life,” but when does he get to live it? Perhaps the countless hours laughing and engaing with Nika’s live stream is the answer. If Connor wasn’t so wrapped up with impressing Nika, then maybe he would be able to get out of his rut. He hallucinates Nika’s presence everywhere he goes, not even needing to be alone for her interjections. Basso depicts Nika only as this physical spectre for nearly the entire runtime, as she coaxes Connor to make bad choices and constantly beats down his self esteem.
The initial setup pulled me in, giving vibes of psychological toxic masculinity flicks like Magazine Dreams and Goat. Basso takes a long time establishing Connor’s default setting (disconnected, borderline aggressive), almost to a pain-staking level. Iconoclast gets a little lost in meandering down this path though, as it begins to grow repetitive watching Connor repeat the same cycle. His day-to-day is broken up only by the presence of Morgan (Rain Spencer), who just starts working at Uncle D’s beside Connor. The two have a definite flirtation, but Connor’s delusional claims about having a girlfriend push their relationship into the platonic direction.
Basso goes all-in as Connor. The outbursts of violent behavior only seem to escalate as Connor drifts closer to the edge. Nothing is too far for Nika. If she wants a big strong man, Connor will gain muscle. If she desires protection, he’ll learn how to use a gun. Connor appears to have little identity outside of his rudimentary connection to Nika. Therein lies a vital flaw: if Connor already seems cold and distant, why do the female characters not get great depth? Both Nika and Morgan are barely characters. The focal point being strictly Connor certainly works best in the final act, yet the whole film feels unbalanced. Don’t miss Kiernan Shipka, Gavin Leatherwood, and Noah Centineo in practically blink-and-you’ll-miss-’em roles.
The power of the final twenty minutes are haunting and nearly perfect. Maybe a short film would have been a better fit to explore that territory. Though there were occasional bursts of laughter at my screening, nearly everyone was silent as the final few minutes unfolded. Basso surprises with his script’s ultimate social relevance. Clocking in at nearly two hours, Iconoclast never quite justifies its length; still, it closes out with an exclamation mark of terror rather than ending on any kind of hopeful note. Disturbing and intense, Iconoclast may be slow, but its commentary on parasocial relationships feels eerily prescient in a TikTok-obsessed generation.
Iconoclast debuted at 2026’s Tribeca Film Festival.
