Written by: Janicza Bravo & Jeremy O. Harris
Starring: Taylour Paige, Riley Keough, Nicholas Braun, Ari’el Stachel, Colman Domingo
Rating: [3/5]
Films have received adaptations from a plethora of sources serving as their inspirations with books and plays serving as the most common. However, movies have been sourced from articles, reports, and in the case of Zola, a Twitter thread. Ultimately the medium does not matter as much as the content provided and we get quite the doozy here with the wild and outlandish tale told in this feature.
Working as both a server and stripper, Zola (Taylor Piage) gets approached by fellow stripper Stefani (Riley Keough) who presents the opportunity to dance at a club in Tampa, Florida for a major payday. While reluctant at first, she takes this trip on with Stefani and her crew of people only to realize she’s enveloped herself in a situation quite different than she expected.
The story presented in Zola contains one of those hard-to-believe instances where one would have a hard time accepting it if not in direct attendance for all that occurred. A distinct messiness leaves you questioning the actions of all involved and how they found themselves in this sequence of events. The madness occurring in the movie even has its own inconsistencies when the real people get asked about what occurred, but the perspective of the film comes from Zola, the original author of the thread, allowing for her side of how she saw things, which makes for an awfully entertaining story.
Elements of this feature get incredibly dark, especially when Zola figured this trip would only consist of stripping for some cash and completely turns into something much seedier and frankly dangerous especially because of her lack of knowledge going into it. The comedy of the feature and the characters involve help mask how this feature can essentially operate as a horror film or public service announcement about not trusting strangers you’ve just met. This feature certainly walks a tightrope in that regard and while it gets incredibly messy in moments, it very much matches the characters involved.
With all of the madness occurring this film maintains its focus on Zola and Stefani and how their relationship morphs throughout the narrative. From budding friends, enemies means for survival, and everything in between. With that, we receive firecrackers performances from Taylor Paige and Riley Keough. Paige absolutely rocks the house and serves as a revelation in this film with what she manages to evoke through her character but it’s hard not to give flowers to Keough. Pulling from a character like she portrayed in American Honey Keough goes all out with this feature in portraying such a singular character in the way she speaks and the mannerisms she must display. She’s a chameleon in that way and shines opposite of Paige as her character Stefani operates as both the empowered individual involved and predator as well.
They receive wonderful supporting performances, particularly by Nicholas Braun and Colman Domingo, who also serve in the dual roles of protector but also handlers in this entire circumstance. Domingo utilizes his natural charm in the role to pull in someone like Zola but unleashes this viciousness as well to ensure everyone knows he means business whenever he needs to, which serves as the antithesis of Derrek. Someone Braun perfectly suited with his bumbling style of acting he has gained much notoriety as recently as with Succession. Thus we have this quartet of messy individuals all involved with each other making for something quite ridiculous but also fun and incredibly disturbing at the same time.
Dripping in style through the direction by Janicza Bravo, Zola feels quite unique not only in the source material it utilizes to tell its story but the manner in which it all gets presented. This feature well and truly lives in the world of social media in the way it operates as a tool but also a weapon against others. It sets the parameters in which these characters must operate and how they can escape the very same circumstance. Whether what occurred and gets portrayed in the future represents the full truth remains immaterial because in the end, it makes for a fascinating story well worth diving into for the messiness it contains and the entertaining characters living through it all.
Films with Josh 