ZOLA – I’m late to the party. To be honest, I didn’t want to see it because I didn’t think Taylor was the best fit for Zola. Her AAVE and Southern drawl felt forced and inauthentic. But then I saw her in #Boogie, and she was one of my favorite characters. So, I finally decided to give Zola a try.
What we learn here is that 148 tweets don’t necessarily equate to enough on-screen content. Because of the lack of content, however, it gave the director and editor room to play with time, space, and silence (my favorite). So, it’s a visually aesthetic film. Directors and editors should study the choices made.
There isn’t much story here and we’re told in the opening credits that MOST of it are true, which means they took a few creative liberties to draw out the 1hr 30min runtime. But instead of getting lost in critiquing its structure, etc. I focused on the “real-time” moments of the theme: human trafficking. Zola was tricked into the game of prostitution and by the end, we don’t know if she escapes.
Do you know what’s nuts? @trufflesaucefilm discusses this topic as well. But, as a self-produced and crowdfunded (thank you to my #realitychasers) project, we couldn’t afford the nuances that had me totally empathizing with both women.
TRIGGER WARNING
The number of men and their penises that we watched this woman have relations within one night… then not be able to receive a single dime from her HARD work. It hit a lot different than my usual movie-going experiences. Maybe because I’m telling Tweet’s Story (as soon as I finished Zola, I added it as a comp to my pitch deck and website.) Maybe because as an adult I realize that you never know what other people are going through. Maybe because I realize that women are groomed from a vulnerable age and/or time in their lives to become prostitutes then at a certain age, we make it their problem and call it their profession. Either way, I appreciated the raw detail in Zola covered up by fanciful music to keep the tone light.
….
Yessss to Taylor on the pole. Her dance skills are always amazing.
Written By: Shannan E. Johnson