High Flying Bird
High Flying Bird doesn’t quite manage to change ‘the game’ but, under Soderbergh and McCraney’s guidance, it certainly makes an entertaining go at it.
One - human race army manager Steven Soderbergh ’s never been particularly interested in playing by the linguistic rule . He aid revolutionise independent film in the early ' XC withsex , lie , and videotape , and for years after oscillated from commercial-grade studio apartment transportation to experimental offerings ( some successful , others not ) . late , following his - very - abbreviated retreat , Soderbergh ’s turned to shooting films on an iPhone 7 , start with his psychotic person - thrillerUnsane . His new movie , High Flying Bird , was also shot with an iPhone and is forgoing the traditional theatrical itinerary by premiering on Netflix , or else . It also pairs Soderbergh with another rule - break fabricator in dramatist and Oscar - winning screenwriter Tarell Alvin McCraney ofMoonlightfame . High Flying Birddoesn’t quite manage to change ' the game ' but , under Soderbergh and McCraney ’s direction , it surely nominate an entertaining go at it .
André Holland stars inHigh Flying Birdas Ray Burke , a sports agent who finds himself between a rock and a hard shoes . With the NBA in the midst of a major lockout , Ray ’s knob ( Zachary Quinto ) has suspended his wage and expense accounts , even as their work turn vacuous with each passing twenty-four hour period . Meanwhile , Ray ’s client Erick ( Melvin Gregg ) - a star college player who was blueprint by a New York squad - finds himself in fuss after agreeing to an ill - counsel loan without consult Ray , and Ray ’s assistant Sam ( Zazie Beetz ) inform him that she ’s no longer his employee . luckily , Sam is still loyal to her old party boss and is unforced to help him carry out the wheeling and dealing necessary to not only help Erick , but peradventure even end the lockout for good .
To do so , however , the duad have to navigate a treacherous mankind of agent and businessmen , graze from Myra ( Sonja Sohn ) - the intelligent and no - hokum representative for the basketball game participant association - to money - bum squad owner ( Kyle MacLachlan ) , and the domineering mother / agent for one of Erick ’s teammates ( Jeryl Prescott ) . Luckily for him , Ray ’s always a few steps ahead of the competition and has already put his master key architectural plan in motion , with a little ignorant help from Spencer ( Bill Duke ) , a former role player - turn youth basketball couch . But can Ray stay ahead of his fellow mogul - player and win"the secret plan on top of the game"before they even know what he ’s up to ?
Ostensibly , High Flying Birdis a movie about slipstream and exponent dynamics in the mod sport human race , and can be appreciated as strictly that . The film is fuel by McCraney ’s highly articulate and eloquent dialog , which would be just as pleasurable to listen to if his screenplay was staged as a swordplay ( a testimony to his background knowledge in theater , no doubt ) . In Soderbergh ’s hands , however , it also work as great movie theatre , thanks to the director ’s bent for rhythmic editing and knowing exactly how long to allow a single shooting - or even an full scene - to linger before moving onto the next patch beat . Holland is equally rattling as the movie ’s protagonist and get a chance to really shine here , even more so than he did on his previous collaborationism with Soderbergh ( Cinemax ’s historical medical dramatic event serial publication , The Knick ) . As restfully soulful as he was as Chiron ’s old schoolfellow Kevin inMoonlight , Holland is quick - cerebration and light on his feet here , delivering McCraney ’s speedy - flame monologues without breaking a lather .
On a meta - storytelling stratum , however , High Flying Birdis also a movie about filmmakers working around a studio apartment system obsessed with information processing and brands to bear their art to the masses . streamer like Netflix are even mentioned by name here , making it all the light to draw parallels between the plastic film ’s tale about an NBA lockout and how once - marginalise artists ( such as McCraney ) and/or those who are n’t needs keen on studio filmmaking mightily now ( like Soderbergh ) are increasingly using alternate political program to bypass Hollywood ’s out-of-date ways of doing business organisation . At the same fourth dimension , High Flying Birddoesn’t dissemble to have a lasting solution to the big businessman struggle between players and owners in professional sports leagues , much less the questions of where and how movie making should develop in the time to come . Nevertheless , it earn for an enjoyable and surprisingly breezy cinematic essay about those subject .
That ’s all the more telling , consideringHigh Flying Birdtakes a pretty frank look at the personal meaning basketball holds for voteless black jock , and how that clashes with the reality of working in a concern that ’s still largely mesh and possess by white executives . Soderbergh does his own part to congeal the film ’s tone by desexualise his camera on steely glass buildings and offices ( where agents like Ray carry on their stage business ) , and using cool born light to make the whole thing reckon and feel like it could almost be a infotainment . in high spirits Flying Birdfurther integrates black and white interviews with real professional basketball game players ( like Reggie Jackson and Donovan Mitchell ) into the premix , in a way that allows their personal insights about the NBA to congratulate the movie ’s observance , much like a real documentary would . Of course , Soderbergh ’s too expressive a cinematographer to void adding some expert flourishes ( most notably , confident tracking shot ) , to spice things up a fiddling .
As successful asHigh Flying Birdis on the whole , it ’s still not quite the mold - ledgeman it fancies itself to be . While the motion picture ’s third act twists and turns are satisfying and well - implant , it thread a flake too much in its first half . Similarly , there are a fistful of subplots here - be it a sudden Romance language between two characters or a tragedy in Ray ’s backstory - that do n’t quite land emotionally , but still serve the overarching narrative and further help to prove character motivations . High Flying Birdis more interested in mind than masses , but it give its supporting cast enough to work with to keep off find like it ’s wasted them ( even actor like Quinto , who are barely in the film at all ) . Its campaign at inclusivity are also welcome , as it provides the type played by Beetz , Prescott , and Sohn ( the latter of whom portrays a queer woman in a position of baron , no less ) with some proper way , allowing them to match mentality and quarrel with Ray in their picture together .
While the film was n’t necessarily designed with Netflix in mind ( Soderbergh give them the first - look after they expressed pastime inUnsane ) , the streamer might be the perfect menage forHigh Flying Bird . Its iPhone picture taking does n’t really benefit from being demo on the big screen and it ’s the sort of partially experimental indie drama - one that ’s not really aspiring to become an award season contender - that could ’ve easily gotten lost in the fray , had it received a circumscribe theatrical rollout . However , by going directly to Netflix , it has a better hazard of pass on the masses who want to see it in the first place . It ’s certainly deserving checking out too , especially for those who hope to see Soderbergh and McCraney continue to convert things up with their projects in the future .
TRAILER
High Flying Birdis now usable for well out through Netflix . It is 90 bit long and is currently not rated , but contains ripe language .
Steven Soderbergh organise High Flying Bird , a sports drama starring André Holland as Ray Burke , a sport broker sail a professional basketball game lockout . Ray devises an unconventional plan to authorize the role player and challenge the league ’s existing power anatomical structure . The film place upright out due to its unique filmmaking technique , include being entirely shoot on an iPhone .
Kyle MacLachlan and Sonja Sohn in High Flying Bird
Kyle MacLachlan and Sonja Sohn in High Flying Bird
Bill Duke and André Holland in High Flying Bird
