High Flying Bird (Steven Soderbergh, 2019) USA

Reviewed by Kaio Farkouh.

It is all about business, that is one of the things I got watching this movie. How you manage to make good decisions and be rational, when you need to. Because, at the end it is all about business. Directed by  Steven Soderbergh (Traffic, Ocean’s Eleven) the director delivers one of the best Netflix movies ever made in a very entertaining story and very well made movie, all of that was shot on an iPhone, following his first movie shot on an iPhone (Unsane).

We follow an agent, Ray Burke (André Holland), who pitches a basketball athlete during a lockout. As usual in Steven Soderbergh’s movies, we have a character who can outsmart anyone. It seems he knows everything and he is always a step ahead. Even sometimes if he decisions does not make sense, it comes out that it actually does. The supporting cast does what they can, but for me there is not anyone else, that shines like André Holland. However the movie has some great names like, Zachary Quinto, Kyle Maclachlan, Zazie Beetz.

The movie has a very fast paced, that I can understand because we are taking about business. And like the movie says, it is all about business. Business does not stop, so the characters. We keep seeing André’s character walking, talking. Sometimes the director cuts to real NBA players to give us a sense of what is happening and how they dealt with it. It gives us a sense of realism.

High Flying Bird is a very entertaining movie and different from Soderbergh’s last movie shot on an iPhone, this one looks much better, some nice tracking shots, and visuals. With some truths about the basketball world and how is though to live in an era, where it is all about business and to make sure to make good use of your opportunities. With a good rhythm and some very good dialogues, specially by the script written by Tarell Alvin McCraney (Moonlight), and the direction by Steven Soderbergh, which might be one of the most exciting directors working today.