Zola
Zola King (Taylour Paige) works as a waitress but also as a stripper, and one day at the restaurant she meets fellow stripper Stefani (Riley Keough), and the two girls become fast friends. So fast, in fact, that the next day Stefani invites Zola to travel with her, her boyfriend Derrick (Nicholas Braun), and friend X (Colman Domingo) to Florida to make some real money dancing at some high-end strip clubs. Zola agrees, but almost immediately regrets it when she meets X, and feels that he's more than Stefani's friend, but pimp. Upon arriving at a seedy motel in Florida, Zola's apprehensions only grow as X keeps throwing them into compromising positions, ultimately dropping the facade and threatening them into a world of prostitution. Zola doesn't take it sitting down, and convinces Stefani to take more money than what X is offering, as she tries to find a way out of this seemingly impossible situation.
"Zola" is a very hard movie to nail down, as it's both a comedy and drama, but on way opposite ends of the spectrum. It's funny in the most darkest of ways, and focuses on events that are darker than dark, but told in a way that doesn't make it feel that way, if that makes sense. It doesn't really hold a dividing line between who's right and wrong, and even the most grotesque of characters have moments of real human emotion that almost make you root for them, despite being truly despicable people. These people are the ones that Zola unfortunately throws her hat in with, and you can sense the continual regret that goes through her mind simply in her body language, facial expressions, and eyes. Without saying a word, Zola speaks volumes, and when she does speak, it's the words of a modern day poet.
Those words are what sparked the film in the first place, as the real Zola's tweets drew attention from the likes of Ava DuVernay, Solange, and Missy Elliott, and was picked up early on by James Franco to make a feature film out of, but due to his own sexual misconduct allegations, gave up on the project before director Janicza Bravo - who before then directed short films - took up the mantle and provided a unique look into the tumultuous life Zola got herself into. She treats her cast with the utmost respect, and you sense the importance of the story they're telling because they got a strong director toeing the line.
Nicholas Braun plays Derrick, Stefani's long-suffering boyfriend, as a man who's suffering from mental illness where he's happy one moment and depressed the next, and who is stuck in the background through most of the film, as X practically forces him to stay in the hotel while the girls do their work. Braun uses his physicality (he's almost seven feet tall) to give off an innocent feel, and you really feel he's innocent in all the proceedings that follow. That's not the same for Colman Domingo, who plays Stefani's pimp X with a fierce grittiness that's truly terrifying, as he threatens the girls to prostitute themselves or he'll come for their families. Yet, despite this, there's moments where X really showcases empathy and fearlessness for his girls, going so far as to threaten other people to protect them if need be.
Yet the weight of the film itself rests on the shoulders of Taylour Paige and Riley Keough, and they hold the brunt of the weight like Olympian-level weightlifters. Riley gives Stefani a truly disgusting blaccent that feels insulting and degrading, and Keough said she wanted to play the part in that direction: to make Stefani feel like a person out of her mind (which Zola actually tells her midway through the film that her brain is broken) and yet also giving her a hint of humanity, of sympathy, and pathos, even though those moments are incredibly few and far between. You don't really know if Stefani know what she was getting Zola into, but all signs point to a possible yes - and even when Stefani shows her "side" of the story (something the real Stefani - named Jessica - did on Reddit) - it's something completely different than what Zola was telling, and you know right away who's side is the truth.
Tackling the title character, Taylour Paige plays Zola with reckless abandon, as someone more than a caricature you'd expect her to play. Zola is street smart and doesn't take crap lightly, and serves as a chessmaster - always keeping a few steps ahead. Even when she's cornered or threatened by X, you sense her inner power coming to the surface, as even though she finds herself trapped in the prostitution world, she refuses to prostitute herself, but rather works to get Stefani more money for what X forces her to do, while keeping the profits. Even when facing real danger, Zola never backs down, and never shows weakness, but maintains the smartest woman in the room, keeping a close eye on everyone's movements and motives, and Paige gives a tour-de-force performance.
Again, to think that an entire film could be made by a series of tweets seems laughable, but they managed to pull it off, sometimes using exact tweets in the dialogue and events taking place (you know it because when that happens, you hear the sound a tweet makes when it's sent). Shot in a grainy format that makes it feel almost like a documentary or events happening in real time, "Zola" is an anomaly - it shouldn't work, by all measures, but it does. It's under ninety minutes, but its legacy will last longer than that.
Heightened by inspired performances by Taylour Paige and Riley Keough, "Zola" is a unique film that shouldn't have worked, but pulled off the impossible by crafting a unique story happening in real time with real people, real stakes, and real tweets.
The Score: A+
Comments
Post a Comment