glitter_n_gore (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
glitter_n_gore) wrote2018-07-23 09:25 pm
glitter_n_gore) wrote2018-07-23 09:25 pm
Review: Sorry to Bother You
This is one of those movies that puts us reviewer types in the agonizingly difficult position of wanting praise it, but not spoil it, because many of the talking points are huge reveals best experienced if you go in cold. I am not going to spoil anything beyond the basic plot summary, but I will say this: No matter how prepared you think you are, you're wrong.
Boots Riley's Sorry to Bother You follows the misadventures of Cassius "Cash" Green (Lakeith Stanfield) as he rises through the ranks at a telemarketing company. His employers dangle the prospect of becoming a "Power Caller" in front of him, with only the vaguest implications of what that means. On the advice of a veteran caller played by Danny Glover, Cash eventually gets results by cold-calling potential customers with his "White Voice," and rapidly closes sales and gains accolades. Meanwhile, his coworkers are rallying to strike for better wages and benefits, which drives a divide between them as Cash continues to enjoy monumental success. His relationship with his girlfriend, Detroit (Tessa Thompson), starts to deteriorate as well, since she disapproves of the people he works for and the way he left his coworkers behind. Cash is left with the difficult choice of having everything he's ever wanted, but at a terrible price; or prioritizing his values, and grinding through a more thankless job as a result.
On a very, VERY, superficial level, that's what the movie's about. Except it's also a twenty-minutes-into-the-future sci-fi dystopia. And it's a pitch-black social satire that's both completely outrageous and disturbingly familiar. And it has a grisly third-act twist David Cronenberg would be proud of. This is subversive cinema at its sharpest and most fearless, all hard truths filtered through a Looney Tunes lens that you want to dismiss as too weird to be plausible, but you just can't.
And then there's Detroit, who is the best character, and I'm not just saying that because it's Tessa Thompson, with whom I am utterly smitten. Detroit is an eccentric artist, a girlfriend type that could've been so easy to get wrong in the hands of a lesser filmmaker and actor. What stops her from sliding into Manic Pixie Dream Girl territory is the phenomenal subtlety with which we get to know her. Yes, her artwork is far out, even shocking, but it's also thoughtful and deliberate in a way that echoes the movie itself. More importantly, this story cannot function without her.
Everyone here has an integral part to play, even the caricatures we see on Cash's newly purchased flat screen TV for just a few seconds. The performances are riveting across the board. Stanfield especially, as Cash himself, has this way of conveying a mix of about twelve different emotions on his face at the same time. This is the first time I've seen him carry a movie as the lead, and he knocks it out of the park.
If it sounds like I'm gushing, it's because the movie is just that good. I could go on about the music, the costumes, the editing, the specific symbols and allegories, the use of light, shadow, and color, but the bottom line is you need to see it yourself. And go quick, because it's hard to keep an off-center indie film like this in theaters when the latest superhero blockbuster is waiting for a screen. Ultimately, Sorry to Bother You is about surviving, succeeding, and the cost of both in a world irreparably broken due to race and class divides. Basically, it's our world, just a touch zanier. And it is more than worth your time.
Boots Riley's Sorry to Bother You follows the misadventures of Cassius "Cash" Green (Lakeith Stanfield) as he rises through the ranks at a telemarketing company. His employers dangle the prospect of becoming a "Power Caller" in front of him, with only the vaguest implications of what that means. On the advice of a veteran caller played by Danny Glover, Cash eventually gets results by cold-calling potential customers with his "White Voice," and rapidly closes sales and gains accolades. Meanwhile, his coworkers are rallying to strike for better wages and benefits, which drives a divide between them as Cash continues to enjoy monumental success. His relationship with his girlfriend, Detroit (Tessa Thompson), starts to deteriorate as well, since she disapproves of the people he works for and the way he left his coworkers behind. Cash is left with the difficult choice of having everything he's ever wanted, but at a terrible price; or prioritizing his values, and grinding through a more thankless job as a result.
On a very, VERY, superficial level, that's what the movie's about. Except it's also a twenty-minutes-into-the-future sci-fi dystopia. And it's a pitch-black social satire that's both completely outrageous and disturbingly familiar. And it has a grisly third-act twist David Cronenberg would be proud of. This is subversive cinema at its sharpest and most fearless, all hard truths filtered through a Looney Tunes lens that you want to dismiss as too weird to be plausible, but you just can't.
And then there's Detroit, who is the best character, and I'm not just saying that because it's Tessa Thompson, with whom I am utterly smitten. Detroit is an eccentric artist, a girlfriend type that could've been so easy to get wrong in the hands of a lesser filmmaker and actor. What stops her from sliding into Manic Pixie Dream Girl territory is the phenomenal subtlety with which we get to know her. Yes, her artwork is far out, even shocking, but it's also thoughtful and deliberate in a way that echoes the movie itself. More importantly, this story cannot function without her.
Everyone here has an integral part to play, even the caricatures we see on Cash's newly purchased flat screen TV for just a few seconds. The performances are riveting across the board. Stanfield especially, as Cash himself, has this way of conveying a mix of about twelve different emotions on his face at the same time. This is the first time I've seen him carry a movie as the lead, and he knocks it out of the park.
If it sounds like I'm gushing, it's because the movie is just that good. I could go on about the music, the costumes, the editing, the specific symbols and allegories, the use of light, shadow, and color, but the bottom line is you need to see it yourself. And go quick, because it's hard to keep an off-center indie film like this in theaters when the latest superhero blockbuster is waiting for a screen. Ultimately, Sorry to Bother You is about surviving, succeeding, and the cost of both in a world irreparably broken due to race and class divides. Basically, it's our world, just a touch zanier. And it is more than worth your time.
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