A24's ‘Zola' Has to Be Seen to be Believed [Capsule]

A24’s 2020 slate was put on complete pause for most of last year, and what a slate it was supposed to be — “Saint Maud,” “Minari,” “The Green Knight,” “C’mon, C’mon,” and, finally, “Zola.” Due to the pandemic, all of these films were in a state of scheduling limbo with A24 basically refusing to go digital (I don’t blame them), but that has changed in 2021 and the popular indie studio is now set to release many of these titles, including “Zola”:

I wrote this about “Zola” back at Sundance 2020:

“You wanna hear a story about why me & this bitch here fell out? It’s kind of long but full of suspense.” And so goes the opening narration In Janicza Bravo’s “Zola,” a movie based on the 144 tweets one @Zolarmoon churned out back in the summer of 2015. In those tweets, Zola ended up venting about the strange events that occurred to her within a 48 hour timeframe. It all started in Detroit, when her recently acquainted BFF Stefanie (Riley Keough), not to mention fellow stripper, invited Zola on a road trip to Tampa for some “dancing.” Of course, things escalated from there as Zola started to realize that this trip to Florida had more to do with Stefanie being pimped around by her handler (Colman Domingo) for some quick cash rather than any actual partying. It doesn’t help that Stefanie’s boyfriend (Succession’s Nichols Braun) is along for the ride but quickly loses his patience when he syees that Stefanie hasn’t quit her ways and is still prostituting herself for money. To say that things escalate further in “Zola” would be an understatement; in fact, the film is all about escalation. There is nary a subtle moment in Bravo’s overtly stylish frames. Bravo is a talented filmmaker and one can imagine that with a better screenplay, she will eventually give us a special film.” [B-]

A24 is set to release “Zola” on June 30, 2021, but no word yet if that also includes a VOD release.