Zola (2021) Movie Review
hey what’s going on everybody and welcome back
to my channel movie files elliott back again
with a brand new early movie reviewer i shouldn’t
say early because this film actually premiered at
sundance last year but a new movie review for
a film coming to theaters on june 30th and it’s
the new a24 biographical comedy drama by the name
of zola i am so excited to be talking about this
movie and letting you all know my pros my cons
and let you know if it’s worth checking out all
in this spoiler-free review but before we break
into it make sure you’re following me on all my
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talk about this film whether you saw it last
year at sundance or if you saw it at the theater
let’s talk about zola your pros your cons what
was some of your favorite moments your favorite
characters your
it because this is a must talk about film of 2021
so far for me in the best way possible we’re gonna
break it all down here in this view but again let
me know your thoughts in the comment section so
for me zola i i briefly so for you all that do not
know this is a biographical film so it is based on
somewhat true events i’m gonna leave the twitter
link in regards to how this all started i’m gonna
put it on the page now but essentially this movie
follows a 148 twitter thread from zola essentially
going over how she met a sex worker who invited
her to make some money in florida and i’m just
going to leave it at that because one i’m going
to start with the positives now one of the things
i loved about this film was expect the unexpected
especially you know a24 you can always expect
something that you don’t expect to see in this
film and i would say the element of surprise
in this film really kind of kept me interested
every act of the film it gets crazier it gets
more bizarre and so entertaining and this film
is it’s kind of an amalgamation for me it reminded
me a little bit of another couple a24 films number
one spring breakers comes to mind the florida
project comes to mind and this is one of those
films for me where it’s it’s categorized as a
biographical comedy drama but it’s almost kind of
genreless because you can also see a little bit of
black comedy you can see some horror in a little
bit of what’s going on this film so i just kind
of love how there are just so many different kind
of genres there’s no sci-fi or anything like
that but it’s just like it’s just so fun to
discover something that is based on a twitter
thread which is a just testament to speak to
you can make a movie about anything as long as
it’s entertaining and can bring people in so
i love how we were able to dive into these
different genres and just have this crazy
bizarre outrageous story and again if you don’t
know the story don’t read the twitter thread don’t
watch the trailers just take my word for it go
into this blind and you will not be disappointed
but let’s get into these performances starting off
with our lead of the film taylor page who plays
zola now i only know taylor from uh mom rainey’s
black bottom last year she had a really small
role but something that was memorable but this is
the role that would make me remember her and make
me excited to see what she does next because she
plays zola this young girl who is a stripper who
seems to be just a really you know keeps herself
just making money and just living her best life
and she comes across stephanie played by riley
kilo who we’ll talk about here in a second and she
invites her on this trip and zola man she sees it
all and the thing i love about her is even though
stephanie does her wrong a lot in this film she’s
still a nice caring giving person wants to make
sure that stephanie’s okay she’s trying to help
her to get out of the situation that they find
themselves in but i thought that taylor paige
again this is the type of role and i love when
a24 does is they introduced me to these wonderful
actresses and again i knew her from mom rainey’s
but this is the film for me that makes me excited
to see what she’s going to do next because she
had the charm the charisma the vibes the swag
you know great screen presence i thought that
taylor as zola was uh great in this movie
and i can’t wait to see again what she’s
gonna do next on career but someone that i’ve
been paying attention to for a very long time
the person that played stephanie riley keno
she is one of my favorite actors up and coming
actors in hollywood she’s been working for quite
a few years but the first time i saw her was in
mad max fury road one of my favorite films of
all time and then just seeing her kind of pop
into these kind of smaller independent a24 films
it comes at night you know we had the lodge last
year uh we also had the devil all the time that
she was great in and also it’s funny because if
you guys ever watch i believe it was on stars
the girlfriend experience there’s a little bit
of comparison between that show and who she
plays in this uh movie and her and stephanie
ridiculous she is ratchet she’s ghetto is all
hell i love the accent she kind of puts on to
kind of embrace that righteousness but she gets
taylor’s character zola and some wild stuff again
i don’t want to give too much away but again she
just says hey hey girl let’s make some money and
and go to florida we’re going to dance and meet
some new people but again it’s it’s not exactly
what she pitched to zola but i thought that riley
was great again this just shows me why she’s such
a great actress she’s so versatile she can be in
horror she could be in comedy she could do both
she’s great in this movie you you hate to love
this character because she was really great and
their chemistry between those two even when things
kind of go off the rails they’re great together
and i thought they were fantastic but i also
want to shout out the other supporting characters
nicholas braun who plays derek who is stephanie’s
boyfriend who’s just kind of dragged along and
literally nicholas he’s such a great actor
to me as far as in the comment realm because
he kind of brings the the black comedy the
dark comedy in this film and kind of just
actually kind of flat out comedy bits in this
movie if you guys watch the session he plays
greg and there’s a lot of greg isms in this role
as derek he has one of the funniest scenes kind of
towards the back half he’s funny throughout the
film but there’s a scene towards in the movie
that just had me die and laugh and i thought that
he was great but you know i mentioned the mvps
obviously zola and stephanie but i said it
every time i talk about a film or show he’s in
coleman d’amico we need more of him in movies and
shows he’s one of my favorites in hollywood he’s
such a great actor he does stage play he’s
a writer he’s a director he does everything
he is so great in this movie he plays a character
by the name of x who is the roommate of stephanie
and listen when i tell you he had a couple
scenes that had me dying laughing that i had
to replay several times because i missed some
of the dialogue because i was laughing so much
if you’ve seen the film once you’ve seen the film
that voice that wakandan nigerian voice that comes
out the first time and later on the film you gotta
get into listen man he was great in this film
he’s the menacing character with a little bit of
satire a little bit of jokiness to him but he is a
really welcome character in this film so the
cast is great i really enjoyed the unexpected
nature of the film again a film based on a 40
148 twitter thread just still kind of blows
my mind but i want to give a quick shout out to
the director’s film janiksa bravo who i’ve only
known her work for tv stuff she did an episode
of atlanta she did an episode of them on amazon
and i’m just still so impressed by what she was
able to bring to life 148 twitter thread and make
it a 125 minute film that was entertaining that
was wacky that was bizarre and she has flair in
her direction she has a really good use of camera
motion she has personality to this film so i
really enjoy it again what the actors bring to the
table but they have to listen to their captain and
i thought their captain uh jenix bravo did a great
job in direction share so direction was good the
comedy’s there the serious nature of the situation
is there there are some seriously one of the
funniest movies i’ve seen so far this year so i
thought that the film worked on so many levels but
i do have some criticisms something that comes to
mind is and is more so in the second half of the
film again it’s really well paced but there’s
a couple scenes that felt a bit repetitive
uh in particular we see stephanie doing something
over and over and again it shows like the scary
nature of what she does per profession but i wish
we could maybe transition to some other moments or
maybe kind of get into another scene but there are
some moments of repetitiveness and also and this i
think is purposeful there’s a a sense of disjoint
within how the story’s being told we we have this
narrative being told by taylor page character uh
zola and the accounts like how she saw how the 48
hours went and there’s a moment where we get the
perspective from stephanie which was hilarious
by the way but it would have been interesting to
see throughout the film maybe zola’s perspective
and stephanie’s perspective of the same situation
i wish we would have gotten that maybe a couple
more times in the film and then last but not
least as far as criticism this is based on a
true story again this is based on zola how she
perceived what went down in the 48 hours and
again stephanie has her own uh perspective of how
it went but i thought the ending was a little bit
abrupt i wish it would again this is a true story
right so you got to stay true to the story but i
wish they would have maybe went a little bit more
they would have used that kind of movie creative
liberties route where they maybe would have added
a little bit more flair to the ending so it’s not
that i hated the ending i just wish that it was a
little bit more uh a little more fleshed out and
a little bit more uh kind of a wow factor as far
as how they end this incredibly incredibly wild
and crazy bizarre story so honestly those are my
only criticisms that i have that could think of so
before i give you all my overall thoughts give you
my score and let you know if it’s worth checking
out when it comes to theaters june 30th make sure
if you haven’t already to give this video a thumbs
up share the video leave your thoughts in the
comments subscribe to the channel if you haven’t
already hit the bell that way you don’t miss any
other content with all that being said overall
zola is dark it’s funny and it is unexpected it
is entertaining it’s all hell some really great
performances seriously this is one of the funniest
movies i’ve seen this year it also has some really
serious moments again it shows you you can’t trust
everyone you meet online so with that being said
i’m gonna give zola a four out of five and this
is something i recommend you all check out if you
have the opportunity to see it in theaters june
30th because this is such a perfect film to see
with your friends to see with a with a crowd full
of people because there are some serious moments
where you’re sitting there like what the hell is
going to happen next in the best way possible so
that’s my thoughts on the film i learned
a couple things from this movie number one
you can make a movie out of anything as
long as it’s entertaining and insane and
also again don’t trust people online be safe
out there make make sure you keep your time
preserve your time don’t waste your energy and
time on people that just don’t have the same
kind of path that you’re walking on in your life
so i’ll end it on that note with all that being
said again let me know your thoughts on the
film once you’ve seen it but as always make
sure to like the video share the video comment
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you all are having a great day hope you enjoyed
this review and we’ll see you in the next video
