Every day, I pray to the cinema gods and thank them that Steven Soderbergh didn’t retire from film as he promised back in 2013. “Behind The Candelabra” was supposed to be his final feature, but since then we’ve been gifted with the “The Knick,” the psychosexual “Side Effects,” the gleeful heist movie “Logan Lucky,” unsettling psychological thriller “Unsane” and now with fast-talking basketball drama “High Flying Bird” – a winning repeat victory lap of such quality that almost any other director would envy. What’s even more miraculous is the diversity of these films that share such little DNA on their surfaces other than the filmmaker at their heart and the fun he has playing with the medium. He made “High Flying Bird” after more than 30 years in the industry, but it has all the energy of a young director’s work combined with all the experience he brings as an Oscar-winning veteran.
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Here Soderbergh offers a window into a world that we don’t usually see on screen: the life of a sports agent in New York City. The NBA is in the midst of a lockout, leaving basketball agent Ray Burke (André Holland) calmly, cooly scrambling to protect his interests and those of his clients. At the top of his list is a would-be rookie (Melvin Gregg) who still hasn’t received his first check from the team after being a first-round draft pick by New York. Meanwhile, Ray’s smart, savvy assistant (Zazie Beetz, whose character deserves more screen time and development here) has been moved over to golf, and his expense account has been frozen. Even the annual charity event for the South Bronx Community Gym, run by youth basketball coach Spencer (Bill Duke), is endangered by the hiatus and the lack of professional player appearances. Negotiations between the players’ association rep (Sonja Sohn) and the owners (Kyle MacLachlan, Glenn Fleshler) are stalled, but Ray has a revolutionary idea that could change how the game is played, how it’s watched by fans and how it’s monetized.
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Though shot on an iPhone like “Unsane,” “High Flying Bird” has a more polished look that is only occasionally differentiated from a movie shot with a camera, with the most obvious moments in close-up. “Unsane” leaned into its revolutionary roots, with claustrophobic framing that emphasized the elements of fear and surveillance. With cinematography by Soderbergh pseudonym Peter Andrews, “High Flying Bird” does still play with the form, but many of its scenes appear as though they could’ve been made with traditional cameras, particularly in how they play up the scope and scale of the New York locations.
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Shooting on an iPhone wasn’t Soderbergh’s only move toward new technology; after it premieres at Slamdance, “High Flying Bird” will be his first feature film to be distributed first via streaming. Netflix acquired the movie, and it’s an interesting strategy for Soderbergh, particularly after both “Unsane” and “Logan Lucky” were criminally underseen and underperformed at the box office. With its Netflix premiere scheduled for February 8, this puts it in front of more people than would have gotten to see it in theaters, particularly since it doesn’t have the big names of some of the director’s flashier films. But Holland – a veteran of both Soderbergh’s “The Knick” and “Moonlight” – deserves to be a bigger star, and though this may not be what elevates him to the next level, it’s a smart step.
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This film is at once a perfect fit for Soderbergh, and yet it’s something Soderbergh himself likely wouldn’t have written. The script arrives from Tarell Alvin McCraney, who earned an Oscar for “Moonlight“‘s screenplay with Barry Jenkins. There are casual references to Hoteps and colorism, and the underlying idea that runs throughout the film is that sports – and basketball in particular – run on the commodification of black bodies. “They invented a game on top of a game,” Duke’s Spencer says, speaking of the mostly white, largely male group of owners that control the sport and the men who play it. Women like Beetz’ assistant and Sohn’s rep are successful, but they’re still kept out of many of the conversations and even the spaces where these conversations can happen. But the film is a rallying cry, with Holland’s character’s idea promising to disrupt where power lies and giving it the potential to shift back to the players, many of whom are obviously black.
Centering of black experiences, “High Flying Bird” may not seem like the standard Soderberghian fare at first glance, but this film displays his style and trademarks throughout. Early on, the camera flips up, cuts, then flips back down, reminding us with these two quick movements of whose film we’re watching. While “High Flying Bird” is technically a sports drama, it actually has very little actual gameplay, which works due to the lockout at the center of the story. Instead, it functions more like a heist movie, positioning it squarely within Soderbergh’s oeuvre, from “Out of Sight” and the “Ocean’s” films to “Logan Lucky.” Pieces fall into place with grace, and flashbacks show us how the plan comes together.
“High Flying Bird” is often serious in how it deals with issues more substantial than just sports, but even beyond McCraney’s sharp, witty script, there’s a sense of joy here. The fun Soderbergh had making the film radiates off it, with this masterful movie that reminds the audience why we’re lucky one of the greatest living directors is still in the business. [A-]
Check out all our coverage from the 2019 Sundance Film Festival here.