Movie Review: High Flying Bird

High Flying Bird *** ½ / *****

Directed by: Steven Soderbergh.

Written by: Tarell Alvin McCraney.

Starring: André Holland (Ray Burke), Melvin Gregg (Erick Scott), Zazie Beetz (Sam), Bill Duke (Spencer), Sonja Sohn (Myra), Zachary Quinto (David Starr), Kyle MacLachlan (David Seton).

 

There is a part of me that wishes that Steven Soderbergh would go back to a more classical style of filmmaking – one where he isn’t trying to invent a new way of filming, and perhaps one where he hired a director of photography again – something he hasn’t done since Erin Brockovich in 2000. Soderbergh’s constant need for invention and innovative filmmaking techniques have produced a mixed bag of films over the past 20 years, so yes, there is some part of me that wishes he would just go back and make something like Out of Sight or The Limey again. And yet. And yet, I understand that for Soderbergh, it is basically evolve or perish, He wants to continue to push digital filmmaking in new, bold directions, and even if the results don’t always work, quite often they do. Like last year’s criminally underrated Unsane, his latest High Flying Bird was shot on an iPhone 7 – and while I don’t think the film is as good as Unsane, at least there seems to be a more legitimate reason to shoot the film on an iPhone. The film is about a sports agent who wants to encourage the athletes he represents to take back control over their sports – their bodies, themselves – and stop being a slave to the corporate, moneymaking empire that is built of their abilities. In a way, Soderbergh is doing the same thing – making an entire movie using the technology we carry around in our pocket every day. The medium is part of the message here.

 

The film stars the amazingly talented Andre Holland as Ray Burke, a sports agent who mainly represents basketball players. When the film opens, the NBA and the Players Association is trapped in a needless lockup – haggling over money of course – which has put a financial strain on everyone, if basketball plays aren’t getting paid, their agents aren’t getting paid either. And for people like Erick Scott (Melvin Gregg) – who was just drafted this year – he doesn’t have any money to fall back on. The owners do, of course. They’re billionaires – and can afford to wait for as long as it takes to get what they want (the movie, perhaps wisely, never really spells out what both sides in the lockout want – as a hockey fan, I know all about lockouts, and how deadly dull the details can be). So the pressure is on Burke – who may see his cushy job and its perks take a hit. But what can one agent do? We’re about to find out.

 

Soderbergh is, of course, a master of the heist film – and High Flying Bird is in its way a heist film in disguise. We watch the film as we see Ray do what he does in plain sight of everyone around him – and us in the audience – and yet we never truly see his whole masterplan until it all comes together. For a long time, he seems to be doing nothing less than fomenting revolution among the athletes – encouraging them to go outside the league to make their money. He is playing all sides – the owners (represented by Kyle MacLachlan), the Union (run by Sonja Sohn), the players (Melvin Gregg) and everyone else involved. His own (now former) assistant, Sam (Zazie Beetz) seems to be operating her own long con as well. And then there is Spencer (Bill Duke) – the local man who teaches basketball to all the kids in the neighborhood – but it’s not as simple as being in it for the pure love of the game.

 

The screenplay is by Tarell Alvin McCraney, who co-wrote the screenplay for Moonlight (and wrote the play it was based on) – and it basically gives Andre Holland a million words to say per minute, and Holland makes each and every one of them count. The rest of the cast ha to do whatever they can to keep up with him – and most perform admirably. I do wish some of the other characters were as well defined as Holland’s Ray – and I don’t think it was necessary to have the most prominent female character in the film sleep with the basketball star on her way up the corporate ladder – but it’s a good screenplay just the same.

 

High Flying Bird is a very entertaining film – mainly because of Holland, and the immediacy that the shooting style allows Soderbergh. There is an undeniable energy to the film as well, and it couldn’t be timelier – as it addresses the kind of issues that every professional sports league currently has to address, but doesn’t want to. I wish it had more seamlessly integrated the two. While Holland and company make everything sound good, it’s still feels like we are being talked at a lot of the time. Still, it’s great to see a film like this – great to see Soderbergh keep on experimenting and pushing forward. Yes, I kind of wish he would experiment less some times, but as long as he doesn’t retire again, I’m happy to watch whatever he puts out.