From the opening moments of this film you garner an awareness of the warped morality of the vandals who are the leading characters in I Came By. The introduction is brief and well stylized; professing the characters’ locus of immorality to the audience – and the karmic actions conducted to make up for their notoriety.

Considering we’re already living in a society of fear, the notion that anyone entering your home can attain your Wi-Fi password is made abundantly clear – alongside the fact that people most often don’t change it.

Upon the security a judge’s surveillance being breached, what’s to come in this film speaks for itself; with the individual in question denying voluntary police intervention upon (after some delay) becoming aware of an intruder.

Written by Babak Anvari.

The sort of tactics a judge (or anyone else in such a prestigious position) could employ during a campaign of abduction/human imprisonment are put forth in a manner one could regard as frustrating to watch, but that is likely the point; tyranny is pretty annoying…

Produced by Lucan Toh & Babak Anvari.

When considering the main character; my same old juxtaposing of pedantic laws versus depraved villainy comes into effect; and it needs not elaborating upon much further.

Written by Babak Anvari & Namsi Khan.

However, there’s a great level of irony in regards to how legislative forces end up aiding the graffiti artist upon him being captured. The movie doesn’t play into too many cliches by making the officers featured incompetent, either – which is both commendable and frighteningly close to propaganda.

How the media go about presenting the graffiti is another ironic nuance; reporting them as an individual instead of a collective; when they themselves are a group of people garnering publicity for themselves (albeit in a conventionally acceptable manner.)

The career role of the villain is mostly a plot device to make the film more multifaceted in my eyes; addressing just how frequent cases of human trafficking are amongst those in less affluent/respectable positions.

The redundancy of psychiatric help when one is pragmatically at risk of confidentiality being broken (which unfortunately, it often is) is touched upon; there’s not much need for commentary comparing differing people’s pain threshold here.

It makes a few succinct points regarding psychiatry; suggesting that those in such positions are often accustomed to their clients being rather spineless and as a result end up treating most patients with a level of jaded condescension. This is a wide-spread issue that renders many people disillusioned with public mental health provisions.

I Came By gives off Disturbia vibes; although the tactics employed by the vandals (independently turned detective) are much more sophisticated in this movie.
Streaming on Netflix.

Given the covert nature of his prior experiences and initial disillusionment with the powers that be (upon first making his discoveries); taking matters that belong in the hands of federal investigators becomes a fatal risk; which is all too true…

Sedlo