Zola

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.

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...

Really interesting style used to tell a quite incredible, although mostly straightforward story. There is a deliberate undercurrent of unreliable narration that works really well. The dialogue and interplay are somewhat realistic but there is just enough background surrealism to give the film a dreamy, unreality feel. Acting is great and the powerplay and character dynamics are totally believed.

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.

I love that it was from zola's pov through the whole movie, it added something that i havent felt in a while.