"@Zola" 2021

Wowza! This movie was quite the ride. I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about it, lol. I came across this one only because I follow A24 on Instagram (A24 is the film production company and have been responsible for some of my favorite outlandish, oddball, indie gems) and the story seemed like a chaotic, risqué adventure, so of course I was interested. It's based off of a real extensive twitter thread that went viral and became known as #TheStory. 148 tweets all written by former exotic dancer, Zola, recounting a crazy weekend spent in south FL with a crazy chick she had just met. This chick was not what she seemed and roped Zola into a world of lies, pimps, guns, tricks and deals. I say "roped" lightly because altogether it seemed like she was a willing participant...

I have seen Riley Keough in several roles before but this one took the cake in her versatility. She was fun, enticing, believable and holy crap OBNOXIOUS at times. She represented the kind of personality you know exists in the world but being so far removed from it in real life ultimately makes it seem like something a work of fiction. I enjoyed the writing, the creativity and camera work that went into this depiction of the story. I'll be the first to admit I'm not sure I'm better off for having watched it, but I'll be damned if it wasn't entertaining. 

Even more fun is to read is the Rolling Stone article written shortly after the tweets took place and you can put real faces to these over the top characters: https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/zola-tells-all-the-real-story-behind-the-greatest-stripper-saga-ever-tweeted-73048/

Overall rating: ***1/2/*****