Audacious Tweet-inspired wild weekend not for the faint-hearted
Zola (R16, 86 mins) Directed by Janicza Bravo Reviewed by James Croot ★★★★
‘You wanna hear a story about how me and this b…. here fell out? It’s kinda long, but it’s full of suspense.’’
Zola (Taylour Paige) is at least half-right. Her tale of a nightmarish late October 2015 weekend trip to Tampa with new bestie Stefani (Riley Keough) is certainly tensionfilled, however, the 86 minutes truly fly by.
Inspired by the real Aziah ‘‘Zola’’ King’s infamous 148-tweet account of alleged prostitution, murder and attempted suicide and Rolling Stone writer David Kushner’s subsequent investigation into its veracity, Zola is a wild ride that’s not for the fainthearted – or easily-offended.
A kind of a cross between Sean Baker’s The Florida Project, Lorene Scafaria’s Hustlers and Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers (which makes it easy to see why one of that movie’s stars James Franco originally championed this project), Zola comes to life through terrific performances from its two female leads and director and co-writer Janicza Bravo’s clever use of the source material as key portions of the film’s dialogue (complete with Tweet sounds).
First meeting at Zola’s ‘‘other place of employment’’ – a family restaurant – she and Stefani hit it off and are impressed by each other’s dance and pole ‘‘skills’’.
While initially not tempted by the prospect of a 20-hour road trip from Detroit to Tampa with somebody she just met, Zola is lured by the promise of a big pay day and Stefani’s infectious enthusiasm. However, she’s left unsettled again from the moment she meets Stefani’s hapless boyfriend Derrek (Nicholas Braun) and their mysterious ‘‘driver’’ (Colman Domingo). That feeling worsens as they pitch up at the ‘‘nasty’’ Royal Palm Hotel, leaving Derrek with their bags, while the remaining trio head for their ‘‘gig’’. As Stefani informs her that their venue is a ‘‘pasties and panties kind of place’’, Zola advises us to ‘‘from here on out – watch every move this b…. makes’’.
Already nervous about her routine, Zola is put completely off her stride when a punter claims she ‘‘looks a lot like Whoopi Goldberg’’ and floored when Stefani suggests he’s already requested a private dance with her. Refusing, Zola now just wants to go home, a request met with rage by their driver. ‘‘I picked you up from your house,’’ he reminds her. ‘‘I know where you live – I know where you work.’’
While they’ve been dancing, he has created a ‘‘back page’’ for them, offering their ‘‘services’’ for individual punters for ‘‘one-night only’’.
What follows is a quite incredible and jaw-dropping tale of intimidation, enterprise, incompetence and unscrupulous behaviour, as Zola attempts to make the best of a bad situation, only to find it turning into something much worse.
Bravo and co-writer Jeremy O Harris certainly don’t shy away from the more disturbing events, but they do cleverly prevent them from becoming the lurid focus, and leaven the increasing tension with some inspired moments of dark humour .
A late Rashomon-style peek at events from Stefani’s perspective (taken from a Reddit thread) is a lot of fun, if a little underdone, and the film’s 70s-style blax and sexploitation aesthetic (right down to the film’s titles) adds to the heady atmosphere.
Of course, plenty of credit must also go to the two leads. Keough (Logan Lucky), no less American royalty than Elvis Presley’s oldest granddaughter, is quite brilliant as the manipulative, yet seemingly naive Stefani, and Paige (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) is a powerful presence as the tenacious title character. A slick, thoroughly contemporary crime dramedy that also isn’t afraid to get more than a little down and dirty.
Zola is now available to rent from Neon, AroVision, iTunes, GooglePlay and Academy OnDemand.