Zola * * * *

This is really quite an amazing film.  I'm not into social media and all  that. I don't have a Facebook or Twitter account. (Maybe if I did a few more people might come across this lonely blog?). However I do read some of Twitter when it pops up in the news.  I actually remember reading the Tweets of Zola back in 2015 - that's how news breaking they were - they even woke me up.

Apparently on Twitter you can only write a few sentences, thus eliminating long boring posts, or anything that requires you to actually pay attention and think things through.  (It is little wonder that Donald Trump chose it as his principal means of disseminating information).

What Zola did in 2015 is post an entire true story in a series of posts one after the other, no break, no responding to comments, just the 140 posts.  Sure, there have been plenty of other people who have got more to say than a tweet will allow, and have used multiple tweets, it's just that they're not particularly interesting. What Zola wrote was a road trip of madness, comparable only to "Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas". Once you started reading it you could not stop.

Basically she worked as a waitress and also got extra dollars as a stripper. One time she met a girl who invited her to come down to Florida with her where the money for stripping is big. Zola then goes on in tweet after tweet about the madness of the trip.  Stefani the other girl is crazy as. Her boyfriend is sweet, sad and useless, but worse is Stefani's "room mate" who turns out to be nothing more than a pimp, and a thug.  I swear, throughout the whole movie you just wish him dead. He is vile! I can't remember hating a screen character so much.

Zola tweets on how Stefani is used and abused. Stefani doesn't seem to care less.  In the end Zola figures if poor Stefani is going to be fucked to death she might as well get paid properly for it, so she Zola adjusts her ad from $150 to $500 a pop.  People pay.  The sleazy pimp is delighted.  

Basically we are watching a stupid girl get used and abused.  Her tragic boyfriend crying about it.  A pimp who has absolutely no conscience and no decency in his soul and Zola caught up in the midst of it. And yet.....It's ugly fascinating and amazing. 

The film reflects the language of the Tweets: short sharp irreverent and screamingly funny.  It's a fast innovative film that still has a heart.  You will really care for these people (or hate them).

Modern media is changing language. and with the change of language comes a change of attitude. It's not easy to accept.  I found Zola threatening, disturbing. exciting and promising.  

Is this the future of cinema?