WEBVTT 1 00:00:23.440 --> 00:00:26.359 We're Tom of Lorenzos and this is the Bitter Kitten 2 00:00:26.399 --> 00:00:30.719 Movie Club. I do not have an intro nailed down yet, 3 00:00:31.600 --> 00:00:34.640 and this is the third time we're trying to record it. Yeah, 4 00:00:34.719 --> 00:00:36.799 I just don't have a Hello kittens, welcome back to 5 00:00:36.840 --> 00:00:39.479 the tablet. But this is the Bitter Kitten Movie Club. 6 00:00:39.600 --> 00:00:42.799 It is a supplemental edition of the Pop Style Opinion 7 00:00:42.799 --> 00:00:44.920 Fest where each week we look at a movie and 8 00:00:45.079 --> 00:00:49.039 unpack its themes, motives, whatever. It's just a little short 9 00:00:49.159 --> 00:00:53.719 supplement and it gets attached every week to a review 10 00:00:53.799 --> 00:00:57.759 of said movie. This week's movie is Zola from twenty 11 00:00:57.840 --> 00:01:02.439 twenty by director Janique so Bravo, starring Taylor Page and 12 00:01:03.039 --> 00:01:07.359 Riley Keyo and Coleman Domingo and Nicholas Braun. Now part 13 00:01:07.400 --> 00:01:10.400 of the reason I picked this, and at the moment 14 00:01:10.519 --> 00:01:12.719 I am picking all the films, but I actually do 15 00:01:12.840 --> 00:01:15.400 want us to do something a little more collaborative here. 16 00:01:15.599 --> 00:01:17.400 We wanted something you know, quick. 17 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:20.319 Right, And I'm the film guy. He's the fashion guy. 18 00:01:20.599 --> 00:01:21.400 He went to film school. 19 00:01:21.439 --> 00:01:25.480 Hello, right, and he was the fashion guy. But I've 20 00:01:25.519 --> 00:01:27.719 mentioned this before. What we're trying to do is is 21 00:01:28.680 --> 00:01:32.920 a range of genres of styles and of eras. But 22 00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:36.040 the one thing we need to have for this to work, 23 00:01:36.159 --> 00:01:38.959 at least as I have envisioned it, is that all 24 00:01:38.959 --> 00:01:41.680 of these films should be available on streaming platforms. If 25 00:01:41.719 --> 00:01:44.359 you have to go and rent them and stuff like that, Hey, 26 00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:46.040 more power to you. I'd love it if you were 27 00:01:46.040 --> 00:01:49.959 following along. They're very different, but I want the most 28 00:01:50.040 --> 00:01:52.519 number of people to be able to watch whatever we're 29 00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:55.799 watching every week. So we pick from streamers and we 30 00:01:55.879 --> 00:01:58.480 try and and mix it up a little bit. And 31 00:01:58.519 --> 00:02:03.159 when I looked at the first month last month's movies, 32 00:02:03.239 --> 00:02:06.079 I was like, that's awfully white. Like I just picked 33 00:02:06.079 --> 00:02:09.599 four very white movies, no female directors, anything like that. 34 00:02:09.639 --> 00:02:10.800 And I was like, all right, so we need a 35 00:02:10.840 --> 00:02:14.719 little bit more diversity in our in our picks. I 36 00:02:14.800 --> 00:02:18.120 wanted the next film to be fairly recent, so that's 37 00:02:18.159 --> 00:02:22.840 how we settled on Zola. Jennie Sabrava the director, as 38 00:02:22.879 --> 00:02:25.759 a black woman. And it's a rarity to get any 39 00:02:25.800 --> 00:02:29.080 Hollywood movies directed by black women. And I felt like 40 00:02:29.159 --> 00:02:31.840 this movie, in particular, you kind of needed the black 41 00:02:31.879 --> 00:02:35.560 woman to be telling this story to give it the 42 00:02:35.560 --> 00:02:43.000 the the verisimilitude, the truth that it required. I actually 43 00:02:43.080 --> 00:02:45.479 think you needed a black woman to do that, because 44 00:02:46.360 --> 00:02:50.599 there are uncomfortable scenes, There are uncomfortable things being said, 45 00:02:50.759 --> 00:02:54.240 and there are even funny things being said that in 46 00:02:54.280 --> 00:02:56.520 the hands of a white director or a white male 47 00:02:56.560 --> 00:02:59.560 director would not have worked. Real quick because I just 48 00:02:59.599 --> 00:03:01.919 set it before we flipped on the mics. There's a 49 00:03:01.960 --> 00:03:07.240 scene with ts Madison which we absolutely cannot quote. I 50 00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:10.360 cannot quote a single word that she says in that scene. 51 00:03:10.360 --> 00:03:14.759 She's so funny, hilarious. But it's also a white director 52 00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:18.080 could not have directed that scene in no way. I mean, 53 00:03:18.360 --> 00:03:20.599 it would have been problematic for a white director to 54 00:03:20.639 --> 00:03:24.360 direct that. And that's just a classic. That's like the 55 00:03:24.400 --> 00:03:28.520 best example I have. I mean, Jenique Sobravo is a 56 00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:31.479 talented director. I'm not suggesting that only her identity is. 57 00:03:32.280 --> 00:03:34.879 Actually one of the things that I loved about her direction, 58 00:03:35.240 --> 00:03:38.199 and especially in the early parts of the film, was 59 00:03:38.280 --> 00:03:42.080 the way she pritified the world of stripping like it 60 00:03:42.520 --> 00:03:46.879 was harp music, harpstrings plucking, really well done, and you know, 61 00:03:47.080 --> 00:03:49.960 she's trying on different outfits in front of a mirror, 62 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:51.840 and who do you want to be Today's and that 63 00:03:51.960 --> 00:03:56.599 sort of thing. And I did I loved that. There 64 00:03:56.599 --> 00:03:58.800 were certain aspects of the film that I didn't love. 65 00:03:58.840 --> 00:04:00.840 But I'm moving ahead of my up too quick. Why 66 00:04:00.879 --> 00:04:03.759 don't we start with this, Zola, if you don't know, 67 00:04:04.280 --> 00:04:06.560 is based is a film, as far as I know when, 68 00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:08.719 it's the only major Hollywood film that is based entirely 69 00:04:08.719 --> 00:04:09.599 on a Twitter. 70 00:04:09.319 --> 00:04:11.439 Thread, which is insane. 71 00:04:11.800 --> 00:04:16.079 Yes, a woman named Aziah King started a thread on 72 00:04:16.160 --> 00:04:21.720 twenty fifteen on Twitter and it went viral and it 73 00:04:21.800 --> 00:04:24.279 was this long. I don't even know how many tweets 74 00:04:24.279 --> 00:04:26.680 were in it, like one hundred, Yeah, like one hundred 75 00:04:26.720 --> 00:04:30.319 tweets telling the story of how she hooked up with 76 00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:34.319 another dancer, a stripper. They were both strippers, went down 77 00:04:34.399 --> 00:04:37.120 to Florida to make some money stripping, got caught up 78 00:04:37.120 --> 00:04:41.360 in sex trafficking, and all these things unhappened, All these 79 00:04:41.399 --> 00:04:43.040 wild and insane things happened. 80 00:04:44.879 --> 00:04:47.399 Yeah, I mean there's a and then he got picked 81 00:04:47.480 --> 00:04:52.120 up by Rolling Stone magazine that wrote the article, David Kushner, 82 00:04:52.160 --> 00:04:55.639 I believe, and he wrote the article and that's why 83 00:04:55.839 --> 00:04:57.399 that's how everyone found out about it. 84 00:04:57.439 --> 00:05:01.560 Well, it did go viral first, and there were like, 85 00:05:01.639 --> 00:05:03.600 I don't know, I think it was Nicki Minaj Eva 86 00:05:03.639 --> 00:05:07.360 de Verne, like a lot of prominent black women on 87 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:09.920 social media, were the ones that caught up with this 88 00:05:10.040 --> 00:05:11.920 story and said, you all need to read this. This 89 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:14.000 is amazing. And I will say I have read the 90 00:05:14.040 --> 00:05:16.879 tweet threat and Isaiah King has away with words. She 91 00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:18.959 is witty and funny as hell. 92 00:05:19.120 --> 00:05:21.079 She said that she kind of embellished he in there. 93 00:05:21.160 --> 00:05:22.920 Yeah she did, but it's all true. 94 00:05:23.240 --> 00:05:23.879 It really happens. 95 00:05:23.920 --> 00:05:28.439 The other girl, Stephanie has Jessica. Oh Jessica, she's Stephanie 96 00:05:28.439 --> 00:05:31.040 in the movie. She does not agree, And I do 97 00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:33.120 want to unpack a little bit of that, but let's 98 00:05:33.120 --> 00:05:38.079 start it with the movie itself again. I think only 99 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:43.800 a woman could direct a story about sex trafficking in 100 00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:48.360 a manner that allows it to still occasionally be funny. 101 00:05:49.519 --> 00:05:53.120 I do think the film suffers from some tonal ships 102 00:05:53.120 --> 00:05:58.360 that it cannot reconcile. But in the beginning of the film, 103 00:06:00.360 --> 00:06:02.800 all of the directing is just kind of joyous to watch. 104 00:06:02.879 --> 00:06:06.959 There's just such a joy in depicting these characters. And 105 00:06:07.399 --> 00:06:10.959 you know, when you get into films about sex workers, 106 00:06:13.079 --> 00:06:15.800 I'm always like, I have my antenna up, like are 107 00:06:15.839 --> 00:06:18.879 they treating them with respect? Are they putting them up 108 00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:22.680 on a pedestal, or are they dirtifying everything that they do, 109 00:06:22.839 --> 00:06:26.000 because you know, there's various ways to look at sex workers. 110 00:06:26.680 --> 00:06:29.319 I mean, respect would be the number one thing. If 111 00:06:29.360 --> 00:06:33.199 you're not respecting them, then that's not a story worth telling. However, 112 00:06:35.160 --> 00:06:37.120 I don't know. I think the film did a wonderful 113 00:06:37.240 --> 00:06:44.519 job of threading the needle of showing that sex work 114 00:06:44.800 --> 00:06:48.399 doesn't necessarily have to be the sole, crushing, horrifying thing, 115 00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:52.439 like Riley Keo's character couldn't give a shit either way. 116 00:06:53.560 --> 00:06:56.759 By the same token, there is that scene in the 117 00:06:56.839 --> 00:06:59.759 hotel room where she sleeps with like twenty guys on 118 00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:02.759 one night, and they keep showing Sola cleaning the sheets 119 00:07:02.800 --> 00:07:05.800 off and everything, and the sheets are very clean, like, 120 00:07:05.920 --> 00:07:08.279 but they are making a point that this is still 121 00:07:08.319 --> 00:07:10.800 dirty work, Like this is she's still having sex with 122 00:07:10.839 --> 00:07:13.560 twenty guys in one night, Like there's there's a toll 123 00:07:13.639 --> 00:07:15.759 on the body, there's a toll on the room that 124 00:07:15.800 --> 00:07:16.800 you're doing everything. 125 00:07:16.839 --> 00:07:18.759 I mean, they show her taking a shower and then 126 00:07:18.759 --> 00:07:22.120 you can see that you know it's it's yeah, it's 127 00:07:22.160 --> 00:07:23.079 no fun for them. 128 00:07:23.160 --> 00:07:27.519 Of course, there's also a very very clever scene with 129 00:07:27.680 --> 00:07:31.360 the two of them in restroom stalls, side by side, 130 00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:35.319 and at first they're showing she's showing like Sola's ass, 131 00:07:35.360 --> 00:07:37.120 and I'm like, why is she showing the black girl's 132 00:07:37.120 --> 00:07:38.879 ass and she's not doing this with the white girl. 133 00:07:38.879 --> 00:07:41.079 But then the white girl gets up off the toil 134 00:07:41.639 --> 00:07:46.000 and this is mean. But like Zola, who is not 135 00:07:46.079 --> 00:07:49.160 a sex workers, she does stripping, but she doesn't have 136 00:07:49.240 --> 00:07:52.920 sex with clients. I have to be blunt here. Sola 137 00:07:52.959 --> 00:07:56.519 gets off the toilet and the toilet's clear. Stephanie gets 138 00:07:56.519 --> 00:07:59.199 off the toilet and her pee is like very very 139 00:07:59.639 --> 00:08:05.279 you know, not clear, and stuff like that. As good 140 00:08:05.279 --> 00:08:09.480 as the film is about depicting sex work and not 141 00:08:10.040 --> 00:08:13.040 falling into a lot of traps, I do feel it 142 00:08:13.120 --> 00:08:16.160 was a little judgmental. And I think part of that 143 00:08:16.279 --> 00:08:19.920 is because Zola herself is judgmental about women who do 144 00:08:20.040 --> 00:08:22.240 sex work, And that is one of the issues with 145 00:08:22.319 --> 00:08:26.439 the film is that it's based on this Twitter thread. 146 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:29.399 But a Twitter thread is not a movie, and if 147 00:08:29.439 --> 00:08:31.279 you are, if you try and turn it into a 148 00:08:31.279 --> 00:08:34.919 movie and keep everything about that intact, including the woman 149 00:08:35.080 --> 00:08:39.120 the writer's somewhat judgmental attitude towards sex workers, then it 150 00:08:39.240 --> 00:08:42.320 sort of permeates the film itself. I'm sorry, go ahead, right. 151 00:08:42.840 --> 00:08:45.960 I have to say that I watched the movie back 152 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:50.279 in twenty twenty and I loved it. Absolutely love the movie. 153 00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:53.240 It's my kind of movie. I love movie about real people. 154 00:08:53.480 --> 00:08:56.639 I like movie about someone who struggles or who doesn't 155 00:08:56.639 --> 00:09:00.480 have a lot of money. It, I don't know, it 156 00:09:00.519 --> 00:09:02.360 grounds me in a way. I know it's fantasy. I 157 00:09:02.399 --> 00:09:04.720 know it's a movie. It's created, it's not real real, 158 00:09:05.120 --> 00:09:07.879 But when I watch movies like that, I always go like, Wow, 159 00:09:07.960 --> 00:09:11.480 I am a privileged person and. 160 00:09:10.799 --> 00:09:13.360 I'm checking into that shitty hotel, and at least I. 161 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:17.279 Feel like I am and uh and then people, yeah, struggle. 162 00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:20.240 So I do love movies like that, and I think 163 00:09:20.279 --> 00:09:22.480 the movie does a very good job. I also like 164 00:09:22.519 --> 00:09:25.159 the fact that the movie tries to tell both stories, 165 00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:29.720 both sides of the story because in a funny way, yeah, 166 00:09:29.759 --> 00:09:34.919 because later on, Jessica, the real woman, said that she 167 00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:38.840 it was all a Ziah. You know, it wasn't her. 168 00:09:39.399 --> 00:09:42.440 She is the one who convinced her. There's this, you know, 169 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:45.759 these two versions of the real story. But the story 170 00:09:45.919 --> 00:09:49.039 is that as I used to work at a Hooters, 171 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:53.720 Hooters restaurant as a waitress, and then Jessica was was 172 00:09:53.759 --> 00:09:57.639 a customer and then offer her, you know, got her 173 00:09:57.679 --> 00:09:59.559 caught up in this thing and said, you know, let's 174 00:09:59.559 --> 00:10:01.919 go to Let's go to Florida, Let's go to Miami. 175 00:10:02.200 --> 00:10:05.279 But I do have a little bit, you know, It's fine. 176 00:10:05.320 --> 00:10:08.320 The film has a perspective, and it is Sola's perspective, 177 00:10:08.759 --> 00:10:17.320 but at no point does the film give Stephanie Riley 178 00:10:17.360 --> 00:10:22.279 Keo's character. It's not terribly sympathetic to her. And I 179 00:10:23.039 --> 00:10:25.120 get it, she's a crazy bitch and everything, and she's 180 00:10:25.159 --> 00:10:27.480 a user and whatever else you can say about her, 181 00:10:27.519 --> 00:10:30.639 but at the end of the day, she's being sex trafficked, 182 00:10:30.799 --> 00:10:32.799 and that is very very clear at the end of 183 00:10:32.840 --> 00:10:36.399 the movie that she is being trafficked, and the movie 184 00:10:36.440 --> 00:10:37.960 just doesn't have a lot of sympathy of her. She's 185 00:10:38.039 --> 00:10:41.080 just some crazy bitch, And I get it. Like I said, 186 00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:48.440 it's Zola's perspective, it's Sola's story. But the film is 187 00:10:48.639 --> 00:10:53.639 enjoyable and watchable, but I think it is flawed because 188 00:10:53.720 --> 00:10:57.559 you cannot base an entire movie off of someone's Twitter 189 00:10:57.600 --> 00:11:00.639 thread with out there being some deficiency in the storytelling 190 00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:03.440 or tonal shift. That's the big one. Like I said, 191 00:11:03.440 --> 00:11:05.000 the first half of the movie, there's a lot of 192 00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:09.039 comedy in it, not like rip roaring comedy, but more 193 00:11:09.120 --> 00:11:10.039 like cringe comedy. 194 00:11:10.080 --> 00:11:12.120 Half the time you have the whole thing, I think. 195 00:11:12.120 --> 00:11:14.799 But then the second half of the film it's like, well, no, 196 00:11:14.960 --> 00:11:17.440 this is a hostage situation, like these women are in 197 00:11:17.679 --> 00:11:21.480 serious danger and are being asked to do things that 198 00:11:21.519 --> 00:11:23.639 they don't want to do. Well, one of them at 199 00:11:23.679 --> 00:11:26.960 least doesn't want to do and I and the film 200 00:11:27.000 --> 00:11:31.840 couldn't handle that shift. And so at the end of 201 00:11:31.879 --> 00:11:35.159 the film you have this very tragic figure in Riley Kieu, 202 00:11:35.879 --> 00:11:38.120 but the film is not willing or able to unpack 203 00:11:38.200 --> 00:11:41.919 that she's just the crazy white bitch, and that is 204 00:11:41.960 --> 00:11:43.360 a failing of the film, I think. 205 00:11:43.399 --> 00:11:46.240 I think because his sides more with the tweets that 206 00:11:46.360 --> 00:11:49.159 were they should have developed that we're produced by Zariah 207 00:11:49.240 --> 00:11:51.360 Zoah and not Jessica. 208 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:56.879 I just want to say. Jeremi O. Harris, the celebrated playwright, 209 00:11:57.399 --> 00:11:59.039 is a co writer of the film along with Jenny 210 00:11:59.159 --> 00:12:03.360 so Bravo, and they did good with it. They did 211 00:12:03.399 --> 00:12:06.799 well with it. There's there's wit, and there's there's pathos 212 00:12:06.840 --> 00:12:08.879 and there's a lot going on in it. But like 213 00:12:08.960 --> 00:12:12.480 I said, I don't think unless you're willing to rewrite 214 00:12:12.519 --> 00:12:17.600 parts of that story to tell something a little more holistic, 215 00:12:18.120 --> 00:12:21.600 then you're just getting a very one sided tale. I'm 216 00:12:21.639 --> 00:12:23.679 not I'm not coming to the white girls defense. Like 217 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:26.919 she's she's a pretty awful person, but she's also clearly 218 00:12:27.960 --> 00:12:30.759 come on, she's compromised, she's not very smart, she doesn't 219 00:12:30.759 --> 00:12:32.480 have a lot of opportunities, and she has the kids 220 00:12:32.600 --> 00:12:33.960 and she's been traffic I. 221 00:12:33.919 --> 00:12:37.519 Do appreciate that they make these characters complicated. 222 00:12:37.960 --> 00:12:39.559 I agree with that as as they. 223 00:12:39.399 --> 00:12:42.919 Are in real life. As the whole boyfriend thing, it's pathetic. 224 00:12:43.000 --> 00:12:47.600 Nicholas Brown is very funny but also pathetic, pathetic. 225 00:12:47.200 --> 00:12:50.879 Aesthetic, and you're like, wow, there are guys like that 226 00:12:51.000 --> 00:12:51.440 out there. 227 00:12:51.519 --> 00:12:54.120 There are guys like that. Apparently the real guy is 228 00:12:54.120 --> 00:12:54.960 married and has a kid. 229 00:12:55.000 --> 00:12:57.639 Now, Oh really? Yeah, but I was like, my god, 230 00:12:57.799 --> 00:12:58.799 how can he do that? 231 00:12:59.080 --> 00:12:59.639 Yeah? 232 00:13:00.080 --> 00:13:02.639 Yeah, it's real, And he says, like I mean, at 233 00:13:02.639 --> 00:13:05.000 some point, Sola finds out that she's been doing this 234 00:13:05.039 --> 00:13:08.360 for a while now, like girls in yeah, and line 235 00:13:08.399 --> 00:13:10.679 to him about what the trip is going to be about, 236 00:13:10.759 --> 00:13:12.759 So you know, she's not that. 237 00:13:12.960 --> 00:13:16.960 No liepending her. But I don't think the film has 238 00:13:17.080 --> 00:13:19.440 much room, has any sympathy for her. And at the 239 00:13:19.519 --> 00:13:22.039 end of the day, it's like, well, she is a trafficked. 240 00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:27.080 Woman, Like come on. One of the things I want to 241 00:13:27.120 --> 00:13:31.519 talk about when we get back is uh is that 242 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:33.000 I want to unpack a little bit more of that 243 00:13:33.080 --> 00:13:33.759 when we get back. 244 00:13:33.799 --> 00:13:35.799 So let's take a break and we'll be right back. 245 00:13:38.799 --> 00:13:40.519 We are back and we're talking about in Sola, and 246 00:13:40.559 --> 00:13:42.279 I do want to reiterate I think Sola is a 247 00:13:42.360 --> 00:13:44.559 very entertaining film. 248 00:13:44.639 --> 00:13:45.240 I think it is. 249 00:13:45.279 --> 00:13:47.080 I think the performances are great. I think the art 250 00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:49.360 direction and costume design are great, and it is well 251 00:13:49.360 --> 00:13:51.399 worth your time. But I mean I also think there 252 00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:54.679 are some flaws. One of the things I read I 253 00:13:54.720 --> 00:13:57.480 read an interview with Iszaiah after the film came out, 254 00:13:58.039 --> 00:14:00.159 and she said something that I was like, yeah, that 255 00:14:00.279 --> 00:14:03.360 should be in the film, because I struggled with this. 256 00:14:04.919 --> 00:14:08.080 Zola has a cell phone and about one thousand dollars 257 00:14:08.120 --> 00:14:12.799 in cash on her Why why didn't she just I mean, 258 00:14:12.840 --> 00:14:14.960 there were opportunities for her to leave, to call an 259 00:14:15.039 --> 00:14:18.919 uber or call a cab whatever. At one point she's 260 00:14:19.559 --> 00:14:22.279 she goes and she sits by the pool in the hotel, 261 00:14:22.320 --> 00:14:24.879 and I'm like, well, okay, why you're being trafficked like 262 00:14:24.919 --> 00:14:28.799 you're in a very dangerous situation. And I couldn't. I 263 00:14:28.840 --> 00:14:31.720 couldn't reconcile that during the whole film. I'm like, Okay, 264 00:14:32.320 --> 00:14:34.759 I need some sort of statement here. Why is she 265 00:14:34.879 --> 00:14:37.240 so hopeless? Why why does she feel she can't leave? 266 00:14:38.360 --> 00:14:41.159 And as Iyah said in an interview, I stayed because 267 00:14:41.159 --> 00:14:44.919 I was worried about her. I felt that someone needed 268 00:14:44.960 --> 00:14:48.039 to take care of her because I was. The film 269 00:14:48.440 --> 00:14:53.600 severely needed that, it needed something to indicate that. I 270 00:14:53.879 --> 00:14:54.720 also would have changed that. 271 00:14:54.799 --> 00:14:57.799 I don't want to take that whole situation lightly exactly 272 00:14:57.919 --> 00:14:59.639 by the fact that what I want to say, you said, 273 00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:03.080 you know, sometimes it's very hard to leave a situation, 274 00:15:03.279 --> 00:15:06.960 to leave, Yeah, you were the abuse or I mean 275 00:15:06.960 --> 00:15:09.080 we see that all the time. Women stay because they 276 00:15:09.399 --> 00:15:11.440 they were afraid to leave, And I think that was 277 00:15:11.519 --> 00:15:12.279 kind of the situation. 278 00:15:12.320 --> 00:15:13.799 I mean, I think that I didn't get that in 279 00:15:13.840 --> 00:15:16.919 the performances. I well, I think I mean she was scared, 280 00:15:17.000 --> 00:15:17.759 of course. 281 00:15:17.559 --> 00:15:19.879 Right, I mean Colmen Dominga had a gun and he said, 282 00:15:20.039 --> 00:15:21.879 I'll go after you, and I think they had a 283 00:15:21.919 --> 00:15:24.480 life back home, like she had a boyfriend of life. 284 00:15:24.559 --> 00:15:27.799 Yeah, she married him. I think, yeah, it's so cool. 285 00:15:27.960 --> 00:15:31.200 Anyway, so they had a life back you know, in Detroit, right, 286 00:15:31.240 --> 00:15:35.000 I believe. Yeah. So it's not like they could just 287 00:15:35.080 --> 00:15:39.240 go someplace house. And I think the common Domingo's character 288 00:15:39.320 --> 00:15:40.240 knew that that he could go. 289 00:15:40.360 --> 00:15:42.080 I said he was going to go after them and 290 00:15:42.080 --> 00:15:44.600 threaten them. But even so, get out of that situation, 291 00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:48.000 like you are in a danger. That gang bang scene, 292 00:15:48.080 --> 00:15:50.200 like they walked into that, and I'm like, why, I 293 00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:54.600 don't I don't quite get this. I don't get why. 294 00:15:54.679 --> 00:15:58.159 I guess the film was saying that, Like I didn't 295 00:15:58.159 --> 00:16:00.840 get how she was able to just not have sex 296 00:16:01.799 --> 00:16:05.480 like she just did, Like, Okay, you're being trafficked. Your 297 00:16:05.519 --> 00:16:07.879 pimp has a gun, but so far and not so 298 00:16:07.960 --> 00:16:10.120 far through the whole movie, she never once has She's 299 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:11.919 able to turn down all these guys. 300 00:16:11.919 --> 00:16:13.879 I think the point they were trying to make in 301 00:16:13.879 --> 00:16:15.759 the beginning that they were always going for the white 302 00:16:15.759 --> 00:16:17.879 girl and not the black girl. Yeah, they made that 303 00:16:17.919 --> 00:16:20.360 point in the beginning that the guy said I was 304 00:16:20.399 --> 00:16:24.039 expecting a white girl or something like that. So I 305 00:16:24.080 --> 00:16:25.600 think they lightly. 306 00:16:25.240 --> 00:16:29.519 Touched that, but too much missing from I think the story. 307 00:16:29.720 --> 00:16:32.200 There's there's just stuff that I feel like they could 308 00:16:32.200 --> 00:16:33.879 have touched on a little bit better. But I'm going 309 00:16:33.960 --> 00:16:36.000 to drop that. What did you want to talk about? 310 00:16:36.039 --> 00:16:39.279 Well, maybe she got away with it because she pretty 311 00:16:39.360 --> 00:16:43.559 much made uh Riley's character make more money, So maybe 312 00:16:43.639 --> 00:16:45.159 she was like a second pimp kind of. 313 00:16:45.279 --> 00:16:47.879 Well he did treat her like that, Yeah, but maybe 314 00:16:47.879 --> 00:16:50.519 that's why. I just felt like some of that was 315 00:16:50.559 --> 00:16:52.879 not quite making sense to me in terms of what 316 00:16:52.960 --> 00:16:56.840 I know about sex trafficking and prostitution. Like, Okay, you 317 00:16:56.840 --> 00:16:59.240 can just say no, but I do few. 318 00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:01.399 I mean, was watching the movie. I felt, really, I 319 00:17:01.399 --> 00:17:03.200 felt like the whole thing was real. I mean, I 320 00:17:03.200 --> 00:17:04.039 can imagine them. 321 00:17:05.039 --> 00:17:07.279 Can I imagine the hopelessness of being in that situation? 322 00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:11.079 And I can't. It made sense that those guys were 323 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:14.319 the Pamson Town and they were Yes, they were mad 324 00:17:14.359 --> 00:17:17.920 that these people were traveling and making money, So that 325 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:19.079 whole thing made sense. 326 00:17:19.200 --> 00:17:21.640 Yes, it all goes to a very to a sort 327 00:17:21.640 --> 00:17:23.920 of violent ending that actually the film did a good 328 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:24.839 job of setting up. 329 00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:26.720 You see that happening. 330 00:17:26.799 --> 00:17:28.559 No, it's good filmmaking. The one thing I wanted to 331 00:17:28.559 --> 00:17:31.480 point out Jennicks se Bravo took over as as a 332 00:17:31.680 --> 00:17:36.599 director because originally James Franco. And this is something that 333 00:17:36.680 --> 00:17:38.880 I get into in the in the review that we 334 00:17:38.920 --> 00:17:41.279 wrote up for this is that the film feels like 335 00:17:41.319 --> 00:17:44.359 such a snapshot of like fifteen or ten years ago. 336 00:17:47.039 --> 00:17:50.000 James Franco was originally on to direct it, but then 337 00:17:50.119 --> 00:17:52.160 all of these me too allegations came out and his 338 00:17:52.200 --> 00:17:56.400 whole career crashed, And and that's to the benefit of 339 00:17:56.440 --> 00:17:58.880 the film because a black woman took over. I can't 340 00:17:58.880 --> 00:17:59.319 imagine that. 341 00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:00.079 I can't even. 342 00:18:00.839 --> 00:18:04.440 I cannot imagine any white man directing this story and 343 00:18:04.519 --> 00:18:06.200 doing it justice. 344 00:18:06.480 --> 00:18:08.000 No, I can't. I can't imagine. 345 00:18:08.039 --> 00:18:09.960 I mean, it would have been exploitive, it would have 346 00:18:09.960 --> 00:18:12.640 been racial language everything. 347 00:18:12.680 --> 00:18:15.359 I mean it. It had to be a black. 348 00:18:15.119 --> 00:18:17.519 Person at least at least yeah, you know. 349 00:18:17.559 --> 00:18:20.960 Even better a black woman. Yeah, because you needed that language, 350 00:18:21.039 --> 00:18:23.079 you need those situations, And I don't think you could 351 00:18:23.079 --> 00:18:23.799 get away with the. 352 00:18:23.920 --> 00:18:26.480 Entire movies the eyes of a black woman. Yeah, it's 353 00:18:26.599 --> 00:18:29.440 not just that, but she's dealing with like crazy white 354 00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:32.960 people and a threatening black man. Like there's a lot there. 355 00:18:32.960 --> 00:18:35.599 I do want to say the two leaves. 356 00:18:35.680 --> 00:18:38.400 Oh my god, they're both so good. 357 00:18:38.519 --> 00:18:42.119 I don't understand why. I know Taylor Page is working, 358 00:18:42.640 --> 00:18:45.279 but I would have thought that this would have made 359 00:18:45.559 --> 00:18:48.200 much bigger star. She is so good in this, and 360 00:18:49.039 --> 00:18:50.599 so much of what she has to do is like 361 00:18:50.720 --> 00:18:52.960 deadpan because she cannot react. 362 00:18:53.119 --> 00:18:56.480 I really appreciate the fact that they played two different characters. 363 00:18:56.519 --> 00:18:59.119 They make sure that there are two different people. They're 364 00:18:59.319 --> 00:19:04.079 together in this, but they are two different people. And God, 365 00:19:04.160 --> 00:19:08.759 that woman has no no shame in nothing, meaning that 366 00:19:09.079 --> 00:19:11.480 she will go there and she will. 367 00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:15.960 Do She created a person that is not her, and 368 00:19:16.039 --> 00:19:18.200 she created her from the ground up, and she is 369 00:19:18.240 --> 00:19:19.880 a fully believable person. 370 00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:23.839 I went back and read the tweets again and and 371 00:19:23.920 --> 00:19:26.039 people say, should you read the tweets first before you 372 00:19:26.039 --> 00:19:29.119 see the movie, and there's different opinions about it. People say, no, no, no, 373 00:19:29.160 --> 00:19:32.000 see the movie and then read the tweets because the 374 00:19:32.039 --> 00:19:36.559 tweets are a terre hill I mean, very very funny, 375 00:19:37.319 --> 00:19:40.559 and she has pictures and they used a lot of 376 00:19:40.559 --> 00:19:43.759 the language using There's one of the tweets that cracked 377 00:19:43.759 --> 00:19:45.480 me up. She said, y'all want to hear a story 378 00:19:45.480 --> 00:19:48.920 about why me and this bitch here fell out. Yeah, 379 00:19:49.359 --> 00:19:51.480 and then she said, it's kind of a long story, 380 00:19:51.680 --> 00:19:54.839 but you know, and they they quote that they used 381 00:19:54.880 --> 00:19:58.079 that in the movie, but they also give you know, 382 00:19:58.799 --> 00:20:01.400 Riley's character that she has to tell her story, which is. 383 00:20:01.319 --> 00:20:07.319 Also yes, Christian completely. I didn't think. I don't know 384 00:20:07.640 --> 00:20:11.279 if the irony was built into it or whatever, but 385 00:20:12.599 --> 00:20:16.079 I was like, all right, that's Elvis's granddaughter, Elvis who 386 00:20:16.160 --> 00:20:19.759 made his entire career off of ripping off black artists. 387 00:20:19.920 --> 00:20:24.319 And I'm like watching her through the entire movie speaking 388 00:20:24.359 --> 00:20:27.279 in African American vernacular, and I'm like, there is there 389 00:20:27.279 --> 00:20:33.160 are levels. This very meta and that's it. I enjoyed it. 390 00:20:33.359 --> 00:20:36.880 I recommend it. It's like an eighty six minute watch. 391 00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:40.799 It goes into some dark places, as it would have 392 00:20:40.880 --> 00:20:44.119 to given what it's about, but it's actually a fairly 393 00:20:44.240 --> 00:20:47.119 entertaining story. And the four leads, the four people at 394 00:20:47.160 --> 00:20:48.359 the center of it, they just. 395 00:20:49.200 --> 00:20:51.440 First movie's first movie. 396 00:20:51.559 --> 00:20:52.839 No I have no, I can't. 397 00:20:52.880 --> 00:20:53.480 I don't remember. 398 00:20:53.480 --> 00:20:55.119 You were always bringing these questions right. 399 00:20:55.039 --> 00:20:58.359 Now because you always know everything. I have to see. 400 00:20:58.440 --> 00:21:01.559 I'm this is me. I was entertained by it. I 401 00:21:01.680 --> 00:21:04.680