ZOLA: A Chaotic Road-Trip Comedy For The Digital Age

It all began with a Twitter thread. In 2015, A’Ziah “Zola” King chronicled a 48-hour misadventure she had in Florida in 148 tweets. What she first thought would be an excursion to strip clubs for easy money ended up taking an oddball, darker turn when she realized that Jessica, a woman she just met 24 hours prior, who invited her to the trip, might have hidden some details about the real reason why they went to Tampa in the first place. King admitted later on in a Rolling Stone article that she twisted some parts of the story for an entertainment purpose — though if not for that very reason, the tweets wouldn’t have become so viral, and A24 certainly wouldn’t want to buy the right for the story.

A Messy Journey

Directed by Janicza Bravo and co-written by Jeremy O. Harris and Bravo herself, Zola kicks off with the same line that opens the series of tweets in which the story is based on: “Y’all wanna hear a story about why me and this bitch here fell out? It’s kind of long but full of suspense,” — and indeed, a suspenseful trip it is. Zola (Taylour Paige) is waiting tables at Hooters when she first meets Stefani (Riley Keough), a blonde, white chick with a ridiculous accent that reminds you of Bhad Bhabie. And the two instantly hit it off over their — as King puts it on her tweet — “shared hoeism.”

After a full night of texting, Stefani invites Zola to go on a road trip to Florida with her charming but enigmatic roommate X (Colman Domingo) and boyfriend Derrek (Nicholas Braun) to dance in some strip clubs. And since Zola could use the money, she says yes to her offer. On their way from Detroit, the quartet seems to be enjoying themselves, blasting “Hannah Montanna” by Migos on the highway while cheerfully rapping along together. Everything starts off really fine, until, of course, it’s not.

While at first Zola is just happy to go along on the ride to grab some money, she’s growing increasingly suspicious of Stefani and X along the way, especially as she realizes that she might’ve been entangled in some sex work (and possibly trafficking) stuff. But she doesn’t really have much of a choice to leave either, as X threatens her to stay with them until Stefani, who just sets up a Backpage ad for herself, gathers enough money for him. So in an attempt to get through the night, Zola does what needs to be done: helping Stefani collects her cash quickly and efficiently — although eventually more problems arise when Derrek somehow puts everyone in an unbelievably dire situation.

For most of its runtime, the film zooms in on all the chaotic absurdities that happen to Zola and Stefani and how the two, especially the former, are forced to rely on one another despite really having no shared trust between them, and it’s when Zola is at its most excellent and outrageous. The script might not delve deep enough into the two themes that the film attempts to explore: the nature of sex trafficking and the dangerous reality that women, especially women of color and sex workers, have to face every day. But Bravo‘s inventive direction, along with the cast’s stellar performance, provide enough gravitas and humor to make every minute of the film always highly entertaining even when the script is flawed and wonky at times.

Paige is an excellent leading lady. Both expressive and grounded, she buoys the film with her impeccable comedic timing and perfect line delivery. As X, Domingo oozes menacing charm and further proves himself as one of the greatest character actors working right now. But it is Keough who steals the spotlight with her cartoonish accent and flirty body language. It’s a performance that’s risky, but one she pulls off effortlessly.

The Film Of The Social Media Era

Bravo makes up the weakness in the script with not only the great performances she draws from her actors but also the unique visual language and sound design she establishes throughout the film. There are freeze-frames, sometimes accompanied by a sound of a screen capture, shocking yet hilarious montages, and snappy quick cuts. Ari Wagner shoots the film with a 16mm lens, giving it a grainy, raw look that works perfectly with the tone Bravo is trying to capture in the story.

A tweet sound effect happens a number of times, serving as some kind of chapter mark in the film. Dates and times also pop on screen. And anytime we see the characters interacting through text messages, we see the actors read them out loud in a very monotone manner — even down to the things like “heart emoji” or “IDK lol.” Bravo ultimately is not only doing an adaptation of a Twitter thread in the script she wrote with Harris, but she also bakes the characteristics of social media into every other aspect in the film.

Zola, in the end, is proof of what happens when a director deeply understands the creative lengths to which they can go to tell a story. It’s far from perfect, yes, but Bravo does a good enough job at making something so unique and alluring. She’s a force to be reckoned with.

What do you think of the film? Let us know in the comments below!

Zola will be available in theaters on June 30, 2021.

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