Zola

As a story, viewers are ultimate left wondering how much of this fantasied adaptation is real. As a film, the production feels scrambled - at times the protagonist and antagonist become caricatures of themselves, while at others the character dynamic is glossed over for continuity.

That said, the entertainment value is absolutely there; after all, we go to movies to enjoy ourselves. There are dabs of humor in this film (an elderly stripper counting money), political activism insertion (police beating a suspect), and a climatic ending. Take the approach I did and enjoy it for what it is...

So now we have come to the point were we are making movies based on a Twitter feed?

No shade being thrown here, as this movie proves a good story is a good story and this was a good story so I give props to the original source.

It's got suspense and its got humor and just a bunch of insane characters.

It's like Spring breakers only at 11.

Highly enjoyable.

This movie is fun and the aesthetic choices were bold and always interesting. On top of that, the performances from the two leads were great and altogether believable. But what was the purpose of this film and what did it have to say? It goes at a break neck speed for 80 minutes and then just stops- there really is no pacing or story arc. Like the social media cycle it follows, we wont remember this story after very long.

Zola is pure, uncut black market Florida. Like Sprinbreakers or Florida Project, it IS the state incarnate - or at least what's so endlessly scrollable about it). It's also a riotous funny dark comedy about how uncanny and gross the sex work world is (visa vi Backpage and so on), but also how black women always seem to have to come to the emotional and physical rescue of white women. And ironically as much as I love Paige and Keough's performances here (the latter sounding like she listened/watched a lot of Nikki Minaj's Anaconda song and or video, a fully sincere compliment), Braun - Greg from Succession, a true treasure at playing dumb and awkward, and Colman Domino's X (and his going between two accents just ::chefs kiss::) are stunning in their perfection of identifying an authenticity of these people. That's the key here: as wild as this gets, we always believe the people... at least as far as Zola's oh maybe 85-90% reliable narrator takes us.

I do wonder if this will have the same punch once the surprise wears off on a repeat viewing, but for now I can bask in the glow of this magnificently directed and truly modern comic exploitation yarn. The secret MVPs here though are the background detail players, like the two kids repeating the same basketball moves on the balcony at the motel or the couple performing whatever the hell music that is in the hotel lobby when Zola comes storming in.

Zola is one of those movies where you either love it or hate it. I had many struggles with it early on as i couldn't quite grasp what it was going for. There are a lot of uncomfortable moments relating to prostitution which are quite disturbing but on the other hand, some genuine comedic scenes shine through. The part where they do the @Stefani was hilarious and some physical comedy like the boyfriend jumping from the beach house and seeing the aftermath are really well done. A mixed bag with another great characterization from Riley Keough.