Zola is the second film from filmmaker, Janicza Bravo, who co-wrote the script with Jeremy O. Harris. It is, as far as I’m aware, the very first film to be based on a Twitter thread. Well, a Twitter thread and a Rolling Stone article inspired by the tweets by Aziah “Zola” King and David Kushner, respectively. It follows Zola (Taylour Paige), a waitress who befriends a sex worker named Stefani (Riley Keough). Zola agrees to go out on a road trip with Stefani to Florida, where they can make money dancing. The proceeding trip takes Zola on an absolutely wild adventure that is far beyond anything Zola imagined.
I vaguely recall the moment the Twitter thread started going viral back in 2015, but I never actually got around to actually reading it. So, everything that occurs in the film was a surprise to me. It’s an engaging ride from the get-go, and the various turns that do occur keep you on your toes. However, it should be noted that while the film certainly is a ride, it’s not as relentlessly paced as you might expect with a premise like this. Bravo really takes her time with certain moments, she allows the camera to linger, and relish in more overtly stylized sequences, which ultimately works in the film’s favor.
Joining along the the journey to Florida is Stefani’s boyfriend, Derrek (Nicholas Braun), and her pimp, X (Colman Domingo). It quickly establishes a bizarre dynamic. X seems to have total control over Stefani, and Derrek is so hilariously pitiful to do much about anything, especially when it comes to light that X intends on pimping out both Zola and Stefani after they go dancing. Braun has some of the funniest moments in the film, and Domingo, who is always a treasure, starts off amusing enough, but turns into something far more menacing, which is reflected in the film itself as it goes along.
One thing that’s immediately noticeable is how harsh Keough goes into her accent, which uses extensive AAVE ansd slang, like she’s actively putting on a front of Blackness, even more than Zola. The same goes for Derrek, who speaks in a way that I imagine he believes to be the way you talk to Black people, but as soon as any situation becomes uncomfortable or unsafe to him, he reverts back to typical white boy speak. However, as interesting as the film’s exploration of performative Blackness might be, I’m ultimately unsure of what conclusion I’m supposed to take away from this.
For most of the film, it seems to actively make us laugh at Stefani and Derrek, but it doesn’t do a lot to dig deeper into them as individuals. It’s clear they’re dealing with some stuff, and their situation with X is not an ideal place for anyone to be in. And while Zola herself says she doesn’t judge Stefani for being a sex worker, the filmmaking itself frames Stefani’s encounters with a sense of amusement. It is effectively amusing in the moment, but what it adds up to, I’m not sure. There’s even a bizarre moment a little over halfway into the film where the racial dynamic comes to the forefront, and Stefani does a fourth wall break, giving a very quick account of the whole film up to that point, but from her perspective. And again, it’s an effective scene in the moment, but I don’t know what it adds thematically to the film. And having read the thread after seeing the film, I’m puzzled by the inclusion of a sexual assault that was not in the original thread.
The filmmakers try to take advantage of the source material for aesthetic touches. There’s often little bloops and whistles that you’ll hear that sound like notifications, and sometimes the score from the always amazing Mica Levi will tap into this sound to provide an atmosphere that I think is supposed to capture the chaos of social media. Although, I think Bravo could have gone further into this because it more often than not feels random in its placements.
What ultimately keeps the film together are the performances. Everyone is terrific, but at the end of the day, it is Taylour Paige’s movie through and through. It’s a tough role to crack since most of it is just her reacting to everything that is happening around her. She is the straight man to all the wild stuff around her, and the way she uses her expressions to get all kinds of emotions and feeling across without saying a word is incredible. She’s been impressive in everything I’ve seen her in, mostly small, supporting roles, and with this, I’m hoping she gets the launch into stardom that she deserves.
While I certainly have my criticisms, I enjoyed Zola quite a bit. The performances from the cast are uniformly great, I like how Janicza Bravo balanced the grittiness of the story with a sense of whimsy and dreaminess, and it’s really funny. Bravo’s directorial debut, Lemon, was not really my cup of tea, though I can see an interesting vision shine through. This was far more of an enjoyable picture for me, and I think Bravo has a way of exploring strange characters that I think can really turn into something truly great in the future. While the film may remind some of films like Spring Breakers or perhaps even the works of John Waters, what it reminded me of are some of the trashier episodes of The Jerry Springer Show, hilarious until it becomes kind of sad after the fact when you realize all these weirdos are real people who are obviously dealing with real problems while the film around them treats their misadventures like shocking spectacle. I’ve grown up around too many trailer parks to find any of this shocking. That might sound harsh, especially considering I liked the film, but it’s only because the film brings up a lot of interesting ideas that it don’t come together by the end. That said, it’s still an entertaining experience from a filmmaker with a fresh voice that is very much worth your time.
Zola is now out in theaters.