You’d be forgiven if you’ve never heard of Zola. It debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2020 and had a limited theatrical release in 2021, but despite being nominated for and winning a raft of awards, it’s drifted into obscurity. Frankly, it deserves recognition.
The story, written by director Janicza Bravo and playwright Jeremy O. Harris, is based on a 2015 viral Twitter thread by Aziah “Zola” King that was chronicled in the Rolling Stone article “Zola Tells All: The Real Story Behind the Greatest Striper Saga Ever Tweeted” by David Kushner. It’s a dark, twisted story about a segment of America’s sexual underbelly.
Zola (Taylour Paige) is a waitress and part-time dancer who meets crass fellow dancer Stefani (Riley Keough), who convinces Zola to join her; her “roommate,” X (Colman Domingo); and her dimwitted boyfriend, Derrek (Nicholas Braun), on a road trip from Detroit to Tampa, where she’s promised a fat payday for dancing at a club. Instead, Zola is caught up in a prostitution scheme that requires every bit of her wits to navigate. It’s like watching a really well-written and acted train wreck unfold. (86 min.)
—Glen Starkey
This article appears in Dec 1-8, 2022.
