Here I’m Alive, Joshua Z. Weinstein’s follow-up to his 2017 breakout Menashe, is an intimate and claustrophobic mosaic of New York City life, a film that is both challenging and subtly rewarding. Embracing a micro-budget aesthetic that recalls Sean Baker’s early works Take Out and Prince of Broadway, it also utilizes the minimal sound design and narrative restraint of Amir Naderi—a staple of the early days of the Tribeca Festival (where I saw his films Sound Barrier and Vegas: Based on a True Story). Here I’m Alive tackles a New York of hustlers and shut-ins: another story that takes place in the shadow of the city’s more glamorous zip codes.
Cast via social media and filmed over the course of two years, Here I’m Alive is the rare neorealism-leaning work that also explores screens—often a tool for escapism—as the objects of obsession. They dominate the lives of each character, whether through their roles in the gig economy or attempts to find connection through formal arrangements and informal support systems.
Here I’m Alive follows four disconnected threads, largely over the course of one evening: Felix (Caleb Zuzga), a young man looking for a sugar daddy to take care of his needs; Eddie (Eddie Torrengra), a Venezuelan migrant food-delivery worker who weaves in and out of everyone’s life; Majoria (Cheyenne Gallagher), a gamer who finds community online without leaving their apartment; and Yanni and Krystaly Figueroa, a pair of OnlyFans content creators who dream of hosting a podcast where they can turn the tables and objectify the men who audition. What they have in common is the lack of a viable plan for success: Felix fantasizes about jaw fillers while Yanni and Krystaly have no real strategy for their show beyond the hope that it will be their ticket out of working at Target.
We’re introduced to this world via Majoria, who is seen watching venture capitalist Marc Andreessen explain his debated essay “The Techno-Optimist Manifesto.” A hermit who only leaves his apartment—bathed in the blue light of LED strips and computer screens—to get his prescriptions refilled, Majoria is not living in a techno-optimistic future; instead he spends his time in Discord servers dedicated to helping others facing mental health crises, and most of the evening video-chatting with a young man (Alex Fox) on the brink of self-harm.
Meanwhile, Felix finds a likely mark on SeekingArrangement and has dinner with an older man who proceeds to break down the flaws in his plan. Felix hopes to score enough money for jaw filler, but the man points out the catch: Felix won’t have the money to maintain this look without regular, expensive injections.
Like the film’s characters, Weinstein and Brian Perkins’ screenplay is seemingly aloof while remaining firmly in control. Each scene is a lively slice of New York—the kind of city where it’s possible to get into a random conversation or altercation on the street without a second thought. Some characters chase online clout—a path that looks easier than it actually is—while others refuse to leave their bubbles until forced to. While the film starts with the thesis of Andreessen’s essay—which essentially advocates for allowing AI to move quickly and violate civil liberties in the hope that it might cure cancer—it is clear that technology may not actually save anyone.
Here I’m Alive is a raw work, often quite challenging, far from perfect. At times it suggests a gallery or an interactive online film as the ideal medium, but perhaps that is the point: simply being alive is messy.
Here I’m Alive premiered at the 2026 Tribeca Festival.