Zola: Review by @Kush_Hayes
In October of 2015 A’Ziah King was presented with the opportunity for a quick weekend roadtrip to make some quick cash stripping in a club in Florida. What she would experience that weekend would be transcribed over the course of 148 tweets that would go viral on Twitter. Those tweets would go on to detail events including being exploited for prostitution, interactions with an abusive pimp, the manipulative stripper and her tag along unstable boyfriend, gangsters, guns and all sorts of other nastiness that I feel confident you couldnt make up. Especially at 280 characters a piece.
A’Ziah King goes by the name Zola in this film and is played by Taylour Paige pops off the screen but doesnt necessarily play Zola to be sympathetic nor devious. Shes just a girl in her 20s, with a shitty job, a loser boyfriend and could always use some extra cash. You feel like her character already knows what kind of nightmare Riley Keoughs character Steffi already is just from her previous experience as a stripper already. Yet, Steffi, still manages to mesmerize Zola and despite only knowing the woman less than 24hrs convinces her to come on a road trip that is just a flat out nightmare.
Director Janicza Bravo in her sophomore feature film does a great job of displaying how Steffi and Zola communicate through text and social media, as well as exhibiting how easily Steffi was able to put that spell upon her. Bravo manages to ratchet up the claustrophobia of being in a car with 3 strangers and being unable to quickly process their character. She also manages to spoil us with scene after scene of tension of being in a situation thats already toxic and dangerous and continues to spiral downward keeping you on the edge of your seat wondering where the story is going to go next.
The movie does move quick. Its amazing the characters had any time to sleep when they did. Im surprised theres no use of drugs at all. Not a complaint, just seems like it would be a natural ingredient in a disastrous recipe like what this woman experienced. Safe to say with everything we do see in the film and even with some stuff where artistic license needs to come into play, I feel like we’re missing details.
I can tell you when the film had ended, I wanted to know more. I wanted to know what the out come of our surviving characters were.
I think the stand out in this film is Coleman Domingo, who does have a name in the film, but IMDB is only listing him as “X” and if you see the film, you’ll understand. Domingo as X is terrifying, as Steffis pimp and yet hes the biggest personality in every scene he’s in. We even see him shift personalities to control the situation to his advantage. Even in scenes where there are guns pointing at him, you wonder “how is he going to get out of this one?”.
When we are not being stressed out by X, we are disgusted by Keoughs portrayal of Steffi. Despite being basic white trash, shes learned how to charm people when she also needs to get what she wants. Over the course of the weekend you see how goes into each interaction with her tricks and you wonder why she would put herself through all that. Its again not a sympathetic reaction, its a matter of confusion.
I had not seen a trailer for this movie, nor was familiar with this story. Thanks to having 3hrs to kill I was able to check this out at my local megaplex and am surprised to report this is currently one of the best films of 2021. I look forward to seeing more from everyone involved in this film. I would even state Hollywood needs to give Janicza Bravo a bigger film next.
Four out of Five Blueberries
Rated R for strong sexual content and language throughout, graphic nudity, and violence including a sexual assault.
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