Zola

A lot is being made about how Zola, or @Zola, is the world's first feature film adaptation of a Twitter thread.  I honestly don't find that particularly impressive or novel.  We've had plenty of films based on articles and journals; the fact that the source for this one was published on a slightly trendier format doesn't do much for me.  But all of that distracting hoopla aside, this is still a terrific, funny and dark true crime story.  A stripper (Taylour Paige, who apparently stripped at a real club for several weeks to prepare for this role) makes fast and unwise friends with a fellow dancer (Riley Keough, really putting herself out there in a wild collection of performance choices) who invites her on a "ho trip" that has tragedy written all over it.  But as obvious as the outcome may be, Zola is forever unpredictable, and yet it never loses touch with the human truth at the base of it all.

Update 8/11/24: It's Update Week 2024!  And as one small part of that, I've added the DVD to this review for comparison.

I enjoyed writer/ director Janicza Bravo's last film, Lemon, and she's only coming stronger this time.  Admittedly, this film relies on a lot of bells and whistles, sometimes literally, with how this packed with cute online graphics, Twitter chirps and similar sound effects.  But it fits this particular film; I just hope I don't see Bravo relying on this same bag of tricks in her future work.  The story zips at a super brisk pace, while still managing to pause and find all the great character beats, which is probably only possible thanks to the killer cast, especially Colman Domingo, who somehow finds the time for a dozen projects a year without selling any of them short.

I caught A24's Zola when it first came out and couldn't wait for the blu-ray to land so I could run it back a second time.  It hit stores in September 2021 through Lions Gate, on both DVD and BD, and I was not disappointed.  Or, well...

2021 Lions Gate DVD top; 2021 Lions Gate BD bottom.

I was a little surprised, and frankly underwhelmed, by how this film looked on blu when I first popped it in.  But then I looked it up, and this film was shot on 16mm, which is a surprising decision considering the digital nature of the subject matter.  But PQ-wise, it explains everything.  Detail is low, film grain is high.  But it's well captured and encoded for a 1080p blu.  It is dual-layered, which helps.  Comparing it to the DVD; you can certainly see the difference.  In fact, I'm glad I've gone back and added the DVD to this comparison, because it allows me to better appreciate the difference.  The DVD's image is clearly softer; the grain is straight up washed away.  Both discs are matted to 1.85:1, and the digital flourishes are crisper and cleaner on the BD to a degree you couldn't get in standard def.  A UHD could certainly display the grain more consistently, but for a 16mm film, this is really all you need.

Both discs offer the original 5.1 audio, in uncompressed DTS-HD on the blu, with optional English and Spanish subtitles.

I was happy to see that these discs were not barebones, which I was quite prepared for.  Far from it, we've got some great extras here - the same across both editions.  To start, Bravo provides an audio commentary, supported by her editor, who's apparently there just to laugh uproariously at everything she says.  It's not an ideal track, there are long stretches of abject silence that make me wonder if Lions Gate's lawyers took a knife to it.  But when it's rolling, Bravo has good insight and backstory to provide.  There are also deleted scenes, good ones that add a lot to the film, with optional commentary.  And there's a 'making of' featurette that is somewhat your standard promo affair with actor soundbites and clips.  But it also goes a step further, showing us classical paintings Bravo was inspired by and even introduces us to the real Zola.  I just wish it was longer!  Besides all that, there's a couple bonus trailers (but not, for whatever reason, the Zola trailer) and a nice slipcover.

This is one for the collection.  Zola's extremely rewatchable, and if you appreciated the movie, you're going to want to see these extras.  So yes, strongly recommended.