X
- 2019
- TV-MA
- Netflix
- 1 h 30 m
- 2019
- TV-MA
- Netflix
- 1 h 30 m
Summary In the midst of a pro basketball lockout, sports agent Ray Burke (André Holland) finds himself caught in the face-off between the league and the players. His career is on the line, but Ray is playing for higher stakes. With only 72 hours to pull off a daring plan, he outmaneuvers all the power-players as he uncovers a loophole that could...
Directed By: Steven Soderbergh
Written By: Tarell Alvin McCraney
- 2019
- TV-MA
- Netflix
- 1 h 30 m
- 2019
- TV-MA
- Netflix
- 1 h 30 m
High Flying Bird
78
5.9
Where to Watch
Summary In the midst of a pro basketball lockout, sports agent Ray Burke (André Holland) finds himself caught in the face-off between the league and the players. His career is on the line, but Ray is playing for higher stakes. With only 72 hours to pull off a daring plan, he outmaneuvers all the power-players as he uncovers a loophole that could...
Directed By: Steven Soderbergh
Written By: Tarell Alvin McCraney
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 23 Critic Reviews
78
83% Positive
19 Reviews
19 Reviews
17% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 23 Critic Reviews
78
83% Positive
19 Reviews
19 Reviews
17% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
The film is funny, quick-witted, and even throws in a little sex for good measure. Best of all, its various competing ideas eventually knot together in such satisfying ways that the didacticism required to bind them up feels more like a feature than a bug.
The intellectual virtuosity on display is somehow both ostentatious and casual. The performances — Holland’s in particular, full of sadness, guile and audacity — feel the same way.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 43 User Ratings
5.9
47% Positive
20 Ratings
20 Ratings
44% Mixed
19 Ratings
19 Ratings
9% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 43 User Ratings
5.9
47% Positive
20 Ratings
20 Ratings
44% Mixed
19 Ratings
19 Ratings
9% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
At the right length. A short and precise business story. For basketball people only.
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we nearly did not go thro this movie as there was so much talking. my colleague recommended it again and when i saw who the director, i decided to give it another go.
pretty intelligent movie and lots of subplots, subtle twist and turns, which only comes to light at the end of the show.
i would recommend it. no basketball skill involved. but u have to make sure u pay attention and don't doze off.
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Most modern sports movies feel a few years behind the story—purposefully nostalgic for a feel-good, motivational story. High Flying Bird feels like a product of the 2018-19 NBA season, which may not have a lockout but is dealing with the same issues.
In its portrayal of black athletes and their families navigating a system that both depends on them and abases them, High Flying Bird is a low-key act of subversion that just happens also to be a sleek, entertaining drama.
High Flying Bird is a heady movie, full of political thought about sport, entertainment, race and power. Rather than float on production value, it sustains itself on the tension of ideas, exchanged rapid-fire in gleaming office towers.
It’s certainly more interested in ideas than characters, and the film stumbles when it makes half-hearted attempts at romantic intrigue or tragic backstories, but its subversive view of race, money and power in modern sports couldn’t be more timely.
Although compelling ideas float through High Flying Bird, the film is neither well crafted or intellectually rigorous enough to compensate for a generally lacklustre presentation.
This film is one of those occasions when Soderbergh puzzles me because once again he shows how unequal his work as a director can be.
High Flying Bird is a rather interesting and entertaining film that has many of the best and incisive attributes of the director but before this one he released Unsane, a minor film in my opinion and after this one he released The Laundromat, which is perhaps one of his worst films.
How does High Flying Bird look between the two of them and among his filmography? That's the problem with Soderbergh and a pretty recurring one.
Maybe he can surprise in terms of never knowing what he'll do next and the quality his next project might have but it's still a little annoying. But at least this one worked out for him.
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Soderbergh's experiment of shooting a film entirely with the iPhone is very interesting but it remains a cold mere exercise in style without the film remaining long after viewing. Easily a forgettable movie.
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I like the actors in this "film", and I love Soderbergh, but this is really just a cute piece of fluff. The problem with many of these "quick" movies is that it's often tough to hear exactly what they're saying. They step on each other's dialogue, and it's a really good thing it's on Netflix, because you can rewind to try and figure out what you've missed. Not a pleasant experience. It's an interesting exploration of the relationship between ownership and talent in a sports league, but is ultimately so inconsequential, it's tough to have an impact. The best contrast here is Margin Call - another movie with the excellent Zachary Quinto. That covered a small slice of a very large controversy/incident, but it was so much more urgent and compelling. Quick note before I go: if you want to see an Excellent Soderbergh movie about sports, check out Logan Lucky. One of my favorite movies in recent years, and it got criminally low attention. Props to Harry Edwards, btw.
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BREAKDOWN
Writing (Tarell Alvin McCraney) 2/10: I never knew you could make a basketball movie with only dialogue. The entire movie was just conversation to conversation to conversation. Basketball is barely played in this film. The most we see of it is a single shot in a YouTube video. You should be able to write a film, remove all the dialogue, and still have something comprehensible. If you remove all of the dialogue from 'High Flying Bird,' there are only blank pages. There is no action and, most importantly, no heart. It feels like there is no passion and no emotion thrown into this screenplay whatsoever. In every scene, the characters seem as bored as I was watching it. The only glimmer of hope I was holding onto was the mystery of Erick's 'Bible' which stayed in its package since the first scene of the movie. I was disappointed to find that it served no use to the plot and had no semblance of satisfaction when it was revealed. If the point they were going for was that, with all the religious themes thrown around in the movie, he didn't need his Bible to find who he was and live without an agent, then they really missed the mark.
Performances 5/10: The acting in this film is one of the better aspects of it. Andrè Holland does a good job as Ray and Zazie Beetz does a good job as always. It was also nice seeing Kyle MacLachlan and Zachary Quinto who carried their scenes. Melvin Gregg however barely finds the energy he needs. His acting is subpar compared to everyone else, and that says something when everyone in this film looks bored.
Cinematography (Steven Soderbergh) 4/10: Soderbergh needs to understand that this iPhone gimmick is fun and inspiring as a concept, but it isn't practical. There are reasons why uber expensive Red Epics or Arris are used, it's because they make the picture look nice and comfortable to look at. Overexposed backgrounds and terrible color profiles are distracting and ugly. Also, there is barely a stabilizer in iPhones so when an actor hits a table or walks, the camera shakes and it's noticeable. Also, Soderbergh breaks the 180-degree rule a lot for seemingly no reason. During the film, I was trying to figure out why he suddenly flipped sides and I couldn't figure out why. There was no reason for it. The only redeeming factor for the cinematography is that there were some shots that looked cool, especially considering the camera it was shot on, but Soderbergh needs to give up this gimmick.
Editing (Steven Soderbergh) 3/10: To go along with his not good cinematography, Soderbergh combines it with his bad editing. This goes hand-in-hand with his breaking of the 180-degree rule. In addition, during a two-person dialogue (which was 99% of this film) the film stays on a third person not saying anything as if they're having some big reaction to the conversation, but they aren't. Soderbergh just stays on a bored actor. The only reason his editing isn't getting a 1/10 is that the film is still comprehensible.
Enjoyment 2/10: Normally I don't like to think of a film as worse because it's boring. Take 'Roma' as an example. Most of the film is slow and boring, but it still tells a brilliant story through action and subtext. You can remove most dialogue and have it still be interesting. But because 'High Flying Bird' is almost all dialogue with almost no action at all, a lot of it is hard to follow. I would have fallen asleep to this film had I not finished a cup of coffee immediately before watching it. I will say, it could have been worse. It wasn't painful to watch by any means, but I wish there was some shred of excitement in the plot.
Musical Score (David Wilder Savage) 5/10: Score? This film had a SCORE? It did not feel like it. Most scenes needed some kind of music to be more interesting. It needed some ambiance to give it some atmosphere instead of just the sounds of New York City. Although, I did very much enjoy the opening song. It was fun and was a good opener that made me disappointed by the end.
Sound Mixing 4/10: The sound is rough in this film. The transitions from inside to outside are hard to listen to because of how harsh they are. They needed ambiance in the form of music or just something nondiegetic to give it life.
Production Design (Andy Eklund) 8/10: The design of this movie is pretty nice. Each setting is unique in its own way and tells a little bit about the characters they belong to. The gym set was especially nice and fitting.
Overall 4/10: Steven Soderbergh needs to give up the gimmicks and just stick to the stories. I can't say anything bad about him wearing so many hats because it's worked well in the past, but if he focuses less on the iPhone gimmick and goes back to traditional filmmaking, he'd have better films. Also, Tarell Alvin McCraney needs to write better screenplays.
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Production Company
Extension 765,
Harper Road Films
Release Date Feb 8, 2019
Duration 1 h 30 m
Rating TV-MA
Tagline Play the Game on top of the Game
Awards
Gotham Awards
• 2 Nominations
International Online Cinema Awards (INOCA)
• 2 Nominations
BET Awards
• 1 Nomination
