Zola (2020)

This crazy thriller/comedy is based on actual tweets by a waitress/stripper who traveled from Detroit to Florida with a woman she just met who promised lucrative work. It's not for everyone (rated R for sex, lots of nudity, violence, profanity, you name it), but Jack, Amy, and I found it hard to look away.

Taylour Paige is terrific in the title role as is Riley Keough who plays Stefani, the white girl with offensive Black mannerisms and accent. Also featured are Colman Domingo as a pimp and Nicholas Braun as Stefani's clueless boyfriend.

Originally James Franco was set to direct, produce, and star, but dropped out due to sexual harassment charges against him. Janicza Bravo then stepped in as director and co-writer with Jeremy O. Harris. 

Stripper A'Ziah (AKA Aziah AKA Zola) King wrote of her adventures in 148 tweets in 2015 and David Kushner, er, fleshed them out in a Rolling Stone article "Zola Tells All: The Real Story Behind the Greatest Stripper Saga Ever Tweeted" (here are the tweets and the full article).

The spooky music by Mica Levi is available on Apple Music and here's a list of songs.

Keough was last blogged for Logan Lucky, Domingo for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (Paige was in it, too), and Levi for the Small Axe anthology. Braun is best known as the hapless cousin Greg on Succession. Bravo has directed a number of shorts and TV episodes and one other feature (she co-wrote that one, too) and this is Harris's feature writing debut.

Rotten Tomatoes's critics, averaging 88%, are warmer than its audiences at 68.

We streamed it on Showtime on December 18. Check out its nominations in my list of 2022 awards.