Girl Week 2021: Zola

    Welcome to Day 1 of Girl Week 2021! Thanks in advance to anyone who decides to join me in annual celebration of women in film. I'm excited to see what you guys come up with. In the meantime, let's kick this thing off.

Directed by Janicza Bravo.

2020. Rated R, 86 minutes.

Cast: Taylour Paige, Riley Keough, Colman Domingo, Nicholas Braun, Ari'el Stachel, Nelcie Souffrant, Jason Mitchell, Nasir Rahim, Ta Madison, Latasha Glenn, Kalesha Johnson, Sophie Hall.

    Right from the beginning, Zola lets you know its going to be a cautionary tale. There's no mistaking it's "don't try this at home" tone, even though it's presented like nothing more than the latest gossip. The eponymous Zola opens the film asking us, "Y'all wanna hear a story about why me and this bitch here fell out?" We've already answered in the affirmative by daring to start watching, so she continues, "It's kind of long, but full of suspense." And away we go. 

    What I didn't know going in was that those opening sentences were the first lines of a twitter thread started by a real person, Aziah "Zola" Wells, detailing the accounts of a strange and scary weekend she actually experienced. It eventually stretched out to 148 tweets which serve as the framework for the film. If you're an old fart, like me, this makes you roll your eyes and think, "Oh no, what have I gotten myself into?" However, it's much better than its origins sound. It uses those first lines to hook us. We can't help but want to hear the story of how Zola "and this bitch here fell out." And it all begins with a chance meeting.

    Zola (Paige) works as a waitress in Detroit and happens to be serving Stefani (Keough). The two hit it off when Stefani finds out Zola occasionally strips to help make ends meet. Stefani herself is a stripper. They exchange numbers and promise to hit each other up and hang out. Not one to waste time, Stefani contacts Zola the next day and asks Zola to join her on a trip to Tampa, Florida to dance at a club where they could make "thousands" for just a couple nights work. Easy money. Zola agrees. When Stefani arrives to pick her up there are two gentleman along for the ride: Stefani's boyfriend Derrek (Braun) and a much older guy whom Stefani says "takes care of me." Zola then lets us know that in stripper language that means he is her pimp. He is played by the forever underrated Colman Domingo. Even though we know what he is, who he isn't clear because it's a long time before even Zola learns his name. The moment this quartet arrives in Tampa things spiral out of control.

    Like with other movies I write about, I avoided reviews of it before writing my own. However, I did come across a snippet that said (and I'm paraphrasing) that this movie "gets" the internet. It's true. It gets the internet better than any of those slew of movies we've gotten in the last decade filling up the screen with some character's monitor as they click away and talk with someone on a group call. Its understanding of the way twenty-somethings interact with each other in the digital age is central to its success. The attitudes, conversations, and demeanors all feel genuine. Even their decision making, as questionable as it is from all involved, feels real. Circumstances informs these choices. They also change and escalate throughout the film. 

    If its understanding of friendship in the age of social media grounds the film, the chemistry between Taylour Paige and Riley Keough gives it wings. Their performances feed off and elevate one another. Though we're immediately set up to distrust Keough's Stefani, we can sense why Paige's Zola quickly gains faith in her, at least enough to go on an impromptu road trip. To aid in this, Keough is able to quickly show us a convincing mask of charm and vulnerability when only Stefani and Zola are in he room. It falls away whenever others are around. Her magic is in being able to reassemble it whenever she needs to. Keough makes Stefani one of those people whom you sense is lying, but you're still compelled to help. On the other hand, Paige's Zola is clearly a smart woman, but she's in over her head and in survival mode. Every decision she makes is based on self-preservation. She tells us as much. However, she maintains a sense of sisterhood with Stefani. It makes her incredulous about her own behavior because she can't keep from trying to get the most out of this situation for Stefani. Whenever she does something beneficial to Stefani, you can hear the disgust in Zola's voice, partially for Stefani and the overall situation, but partially for herself, too. She knows it may come back to bite her.

    What drags Zola back to Earth a bit is it's ending. It's abrupt and leaves us feeling as if things haven't been resolved. It's almost as if it's setting us up for a sequel about a few more days of mayhem. The intent seems to be to keep it ambiguous enough to amplify its status as a cautionary tale. Our questions are supposed to linger as the credits roll. They do. In this case, however, the movie tells us from the beginning this is a one-time thing, and those questions would still linger. They're powerful enough, and brought on by a situation tangibly dangerous enough to draw us in that it didn't need to be snipped and wrapped in such an artificial way.

    Despite the not quite there finish, Zola is a wild ride that fills the main character and the viewer with plenty of angst. It also urges us to consider the consequence of instant and/or social media friends spilling into our real lives. It does this by dropping us into the middle of a grimy universe and forcing us to sift through it. While there, we find some jewels hidden in the muck, and observe the train wreck that is the tandem of Zola and Stefani. I mean wreck in the best possible way. Not only can't we look away, we don't want to.

It's not too late to join. We're going to keep this thing rocking until the 28th. I look forward to reading your contributions.

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