Zola
Can you make a movie out of a Twitter thread? “Zola” is proof that you can. Should you make a movie out of a Twitter thread? I think Janicza Bravo’s dark comedy leaves that question more open to discussion. While there are things about this film I very much like, it feels as fragmented as you would expect from a story told in 148 tweets, with a limit of 140 characters-per-tweet. Of course, the film is actually based on an article about the thread, but that doesn’t really help us feel like Bravo and her co-writer, Jeremy O. Harris, fleshed this story out beyond the bare essentials for a plot.
“So, you want to hear the story about how me and this bitch fell out?” is a Hell of a hook for a movie. That line alone makes you feel like you’re going to watch something wild and authentic. It was the first tweet of A’Ziah King’s thread, and it’s a great way to open a narrative. King’s character in the film, Zola (which is her irl twitter name, and whom is played by Taylour Paige), is a waitress and part-time stripper. At the first job, she meets Stefani (Riley Keough), who’s also a stripper, and she’s there with an older black guy. Zola and Stefani become fast friends, and they begin texting one another frequently. One day, Stefani invites Zola to join her, her boyfriend (Nicholas Braun) and her roommate (the older black guy, played by Colman Domingo) on a road trip to Tampa where they will strip and make some big money. Zola agrees, but the trip becomes much more complicated than that when Derrek is left at the hotel, and Zola, Stefani and “X” (he doesn’t have a name for much of the movie) go to the strip club for the gig, and then a night cap at another hotel, where Zola confronts work she didn’t sign up for.
Paige and Keough are wonderful as Zola and Stefani. Stefani plays the stereotypical “white girl acting black” to the highest degree, but she’s not just a joke character; the funniest part about Stefani is when she is telling “her side” of the story. When Zola and Stefani are alone, there’s a real heart that comes through the character that makes us feel like we’re not just watching a stereotype, and Zola definitely is not a stereotype at all. You’re welcome to your opinions on sex work, but one of the things that works best in this film is that it doesn’t judge these women the choices they’ve made. Zola has her line in the sand, and after a while, she’s accepting of the one Stefani has extended. Both of these women are meat to be sold for “X,” though, even though he claims to care for Stefani. A mistake by Derrek throws their journey for the biggest loop, leading to a crazy finale.
The main four performances keep this story going, but the dark comedy doesn’t really feel there throughout a lot of it. This plays as a more street-bound “Hustlers,” without as much to distinguish it in terms of personality and style. Also, the film just seems to end; it reaches a conclusion, but the story hasn’t really concluded. Sure, we’ve kind of seen how these two “fall out,” but we don’t see much of the “fallout,” if you will. That makes the whole thing feel hollow, like spending time reading a Twitter thread, and the author doesn’t stick the landing.
