Review of Zola (2021) by Rmurray847 — 10 Aug 2023

ZOLA may finally be that movie where I have to say "I think I'm just the wrong audience for this film." I'm a 58 year old male, but I've been a huge film-goer my whole life. I'm a pretty avid consumer of film & TV. I have a Fine Arts degree in Performing Arts. I consider myself to be very open-minded about a wide variety of film: if it's "good" I'll watch it. This is all just to try to set up my feeling of disconnectedness with ZOLA.

Based on a series of tweets, it tells the ostensibly true story of Zola, a young African American stripper in Detroit, who develops an immediate and intense friendship with Stefani, a white stripper who encourages Zola to travel with her, her boyfriend Derrek (Nicholas Braun from SUCCESSION) and her pimp (known as X and played by the always engaging Colman Domingo) to Miami to dance at some high dollar clubs. Zola doesn't fully understand that the hope is she'll be agreeable to some prostitution as well once she gets to Miami.

The tone of the film is of wild exuberance and empowerment. Taylour Paige, as Zola, is a paradox, a composed free-spirit. A woman who feels great about being a stripper, but also is very strong and sure about her boundaries. She's smart and fun and funny. Wary & world-weary yet somehow naïve. On the other hand, you've got Stephani (Riley Keough in a role that would have put her on the map if more people had seen the film), a free-spirit with seemingly no boundaries. She'll do anything with her body (or allow anything to be done) for money. And she literally can't understand why her boyfriend Derrek would have any feelings of jealousy or unhappiness about it.

The plot of the movie involves, to a large degree, Zola's growing awareness of the situation she has gotten herself into. She's expected to be a prostitute. X is more dangerous than he originally appeared. And outside forces have taken a real interest in both women, and not with good motivations. Friendships and relationships are tested and reconstructed into new shapes. There are certainly scenes of immense tension, but the overall feel of the movie is that these 4 companions are mostly on a bit of a lark. The loud music, smiles and garish but fun costumes invite smiles and enjoyment. The "bad" things are just minor obstacles to be overcome. Being a prostitute is a minor life choice and being a stripper is a downright honorable profession.

I get it. Zola, in particular, makes her boundaries clear and also makes clear that stripping is an empowering way to make a living and to be true to herself. And it's in this realm that the film begins to lose me. I don't get "sex work" as empowering. I understand that difficult circumstances, abuse and ignorance can lead to this dangerous line of work. But for a bright, intelligent young lady to make that choice willingly, even defiantly, is tough for me. And the abuses Stefani endures are not minor. I won't detail them here, but in one night she makes $8000...a figure we clearly understand means she has slept with 16 different men. She's barely bothered by it; just a little tired. Is that "good?" The film argues that it isn't a real problem if the woman is in "control" of the situation. But is she really in control or is it just an illusion (to say nothing of the fact that her pimp, X, still gets virtually all the money in the end)? How is she NOT being exploited and used? Later, she's driven to an encounter with a group of men that surely is just objectively distasteful. But everyone emerges with a smile. Basically, the tone of the film eliminates any feeling that we need to feel sorry for, or worry about, these two women. They are strong, independent women (one of whom still has a pimp). I'm sorry but I struggle to accept that "thesis." And that's, finally, why I wonder if this film has just passed me by due to my age and circumstance. I did not enjoy or appreciate being asked to applaud the subjugation of these women. The film argues, I think, that they are not being subjugated. We are to just accept that one has boundaries, the other does not (it seems) and please just instead focus on the sometimes amusing and sometimes scary plot points that happen to Zola that were doubtless the focus of her famous series of tweets.

The 4 lead performances were all outstanding (although I had to put on the subtitles to understand Keough's crazy accent) and full of energy and commitment. I was fairly unfamiliar with Taylour Paige, but she's certainly on my list of actors of great interest now. Domingo is always great fun, whether menacing or playing a "kinder" role and even Braun brings a schlubby dignity to his role. The film is short, fast-moving and crisply edited. For a low budget film, the production values are high. But finally, for me, it was in the service of a movie that made me uncomfortable for what I see as the wrong reasons.