Movie Reaction: Zola

Formula: Spring Breakers ^ Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

 

It was only a matter of time before a tweet thread got turned into a movie. I mean, people get writing jobs for funny accounts. A decade ago, CBS made a sitcom based on a Twitter account. The democratization on content made it inevitable that someone with a story to tell on Twitter got some producer's attention.

 

Zola is based on an infamous 148-ish tweet story from 2015. It's about a woman in Detroit, Zola (Taylour Paige), who meets a woman named Stefani (Riley Keough) at the Hooters she works at and the next day gets invited on a road trip with Stefani to strip down in Florida. What follows is a series of escalations that sound like the twists and turns of a fictional screenplay. If, like me, you missed the Twitter thread, then I won't spoil what follows. Let's just say that it goes deep into the sex work underworld.

 

After watching this movie, I tracked down the Twitter thread that inspired the movie. Immediately, I was impressed by how well this screenplay translates the rhythms of tweeting to a movie. Zola narrates the movie with the brevity of a tweet. The characters spend an accurate amount of time on their cell phones. Tweeting and texting sounds are prevalent throughout the movie. It all really does feel like I'm watching someone act out a Twitter thread, and I mean that in the best way. The film makes a few changes from the tweets but it overall stays true to the content of the story, and the decisions aren't always to make the story more sensational.

 

This movie is full of big and crazy characters. Riley Keough is a little demon with a "blaccent". It's a delicate balanced of a character. I was never sure how calculating she really was or how much of her whole demeanor was a front. It's hard to call her the villain of the movie. She's the chaos agent, and Keogh does a great job. Nicholas Braun plays Stefani's boyfriend, and he brings a lot of his Succession character's energy to this. It's serious "unfortunate white guy" energy. He's a sad sack who doesn't realize how big of a joke he is. Then there's Coleman Domingo as another person who goes with them on this road trip. His exact role becomes clearer throughout the movie, but the character remains a mystery. Taylour Paige's Zola is by far the most "normal" character. Most of her humor comes from her narration. Paige's performance is mostly as a witness which she shades tremendously.

 

One of my favorite scenes comes late when we get Stefani's Reddit response to the story. It ends up serving a few purposes. It's a brief and rare glimpse inside Stafani's head. It's also a reminder that this movie is Zola's side of the story. I'm inclined to believe Zola's perspective, but it is likely that the truth of it all exists somewhere between Zola and Stefani's accounts.

 

I should be clear that this movie is a comedy. It's nuts. There are some harrowing moments. Director Janicza Bravo clearly has more on her mind with this that she's very savvy about sneaking in. This movie is funny though. The characters are silly. Zola's narration is blunt and full of shade. It's hard to see how any studio other than A24 could've bought this out of Sundance. It matches their brand so perfectly.

 

It's a pretty short movie, barely filling 90 minutes, which I love. It ends pretty abruptly, which is also kind of like a Twitter thread.

 

Movie Theater MVP: Very late into the movie, a couple walked into my theater (which I was the only person in, as it turned out) either by mistake or to sneak into a second movie. While it was a little annoying hear them talking during the movie, it was a lot of fun hearing how confused they were by what this was. It was a nice reminder that this movie eases the audience in so that they don't realize how crazy the story has gotten.

 

Verdict: Strongly Recommend