Every High Flying Zama
Sewing with gold thread doesn't ensure the garment will fit
Much like time travel, body swapping is the one of the great traditions of cinema that has yet to be perfected. Though not a great film in any regard, I respect Every Day's valiant attempt to come at the trope from a different, yet completely familiar angle.
A strange dichotomy exists when a quirky idea tangles with an uninspired genre. What is one supposed to judge? Even though the story beats within this teen drama are highly predictable, the thread that sews its generic moments together is made of gold: What if a person who wakes up in a different body every day falls in love? That enough should be able to weave a good narrative, right? Unfortunately, sewing with gold thread doesn't ensure the garment will fit.
Much of my issue with the film doesn't really stem from its blasé, YA formula. I actually genuinely enjoy those kinds of films; They do no harm, so might as well take them as they are. However, the YA genre is all fun and games until they attempt to enter the current zeitgeist. And ours is a zeitgeist with a marquee of words including "diversity", "inclusion", "feminism" etc. Not saying that those ideas aren't included in the mainstream politics and consciousness of other time periods, but with our society specifically, they are ideas that define how we look at media (aka this movie) and the world surrounding.
Even though body swapping seems like the perfect vehicle for philosophy and social themes, the story just touches upon these themes (diversity, inclusion, feminism, etc.) as if it is obligated or contracted to. In other words, with a powerful and recognizable narrative device (body swapping) being used in such a new way (with random bodies, and not just familiar ones), you would expect and hope that the politics of identity and self are flushed out a little more. Again, the film makes an attempt to make a statement (during the only girl/girl kiss), but it never fully commits to the ideas it has put in place. It is as if the material doesn’t trust itself enough.
I am giving this such a high rating because I had a great time watching this with my family, as it was an open forum for discussion during the film. Albeit, most of that discussion was based around plot holes and "wait a minutes", but it was discussion nonetheless. However, I would have loved to be able to take the crazy idea of body swapping into deeper conversation. With a premise like that, and several moments that almost broke the traditional YA barrier, it really seemed like the film would be able to accomplish something cinematic, unique, and political. Alas, Every Day is reduced to a brilliant logline expanded in the most basic of fashions.
I'll still wear the garment. Just wish it fit a little better.
A director trying to rebrand (not reinvent) the wheel
Basketball, just like any industry (especially the film industry in which Steven Soderbergh operates both in and outside from), is a business--- or as Andre Holland describes it in the film, "a game on top of a game".
This philosophy on the ladder system of big money basketball as well as the way in which Ray (Andre Holland's character) "breaks" the chain of command, mimics the current mode of filmmaking that Soderbergh is operating under.
Considering that the film's director is working outside of the studio system (a system that created his Oceans films) due to his "retirement", High Flying Bird runs alongside Soderbergh's career at a breakneck and matching frequency. Strong players like Holland and writer, Tarell Alvin McCraney (Moonlight) come together to create an indie film outside of the system, FUNDED by Soderbergh, distributed by Netflix for the people, and shot on an iPhone in TWO FUCKING WEEKS. This is the same entrepreneurial hustle that sprints through the film.
This is not to say that there are some problems with the way that the film operates-- especially in its visual storytelling. With themes as dense and characters a snappy, it hurts a little to see the film shot on a device that is used to send nude pictures over dating apps. The films pluckiness is similar to a start-up company finding its footing, or a director trying to rebrand (not reinvent) the wheel.
With High Flying Bird, Soderbergh attempts to recreate what he believes to be the crux of his career, and with that ending you can tell that he thinks he's got the keys to the castle. And you know what?
He just might.
There's a llama in this as well
A rather beautifully frustrating depiction of the day-to-day, stuck in traffic, 9 to 5 government worker--- this time, masked in the guise of colonialism. I'm sure that you can piece together the film from just that brief description. Everything you think happens happens, but the things that you don't see coming come at you with a bloodlust. After a cup of strong coffee, Zama is a predictable set of happy accidents. You'll see what I mean, but be sure to get that coffee in you get that coffee in you first. Go for black if you can handle it.
With its titular character always obscuring the foreground in a desperate attempt to overtake his surroundings, we see a visual representation of what causes Diego de Zama's incessant failure--- instead of trying to escape the frame, he attempts to selfishly fill it with himself. This is how many in today's society operate. Rather than fighting or opposing the system, people believe that personal freedom can be achieved quicker by being a more active participant in a corrupt system--- by essentially hacking it from the inside.
If Zama tells us anything, (and I think that it does, since didacticism is the clear mode of operation here), it is another tale of too-little-too-late moralism. After every wrong turn, Diego de Zama realizes the RIGHT decision without realizing that there is no turning back: To but it in (maybe) less confusing, unmetaphorical terms: The right decision is only the right decision at the right time. Therefore, if we make the right decisions before their "rightness" expires, we can all live splendid lives free from dystentary, torture, and amputations.
Oh, and there's a llama in this as well.