Sorry to Bother You
[Blu-ray]
2018 was such a friggin’ good year for movies. Maybe because the artform has started opening the playing field to its audience and allowing more people than ever to make movies. A thing that musicians figured out a long time ago was a good thing. Who knows? I’ve never made a movie nor do I understand the intricacies of making one. What I do know is that independent movies are getting more attention than ever. Probably because they’ve been at the cutting edge since the beginning. The independent movie I was most impressed with last year was Sorry to Bother You.
First off, I didn’t know what to expect when I went in, and didn’t know what to think of it when I left the theatre. There is definitely the feeling that writer/director Boots Riley couldn’t figure out how to end his movie and ended up stuffing a bunch of ideas into one story. Most of the time, this turns into a complete mess, but in the case of Sorry to Bother You, they happen to be good ideas. This movie is a comedy, a social commentary, a sci-fi thriller, and a slapstick romp. Most of all, it’s entertaining and a lot of fun. I find it hard to imagine that everyone won’t find something to love about this movie.
Another thing I thoroughly enjoyed is how Sorry to Bother You doesn’t rely on endless cameos and no-small-roles to tell its story, probably because it actually has a story to tell, and leaves it to its audience to figure out what it is. Instead of dangling a treat in front of us to distract us, this movie seems to focus in on the message, even though it does it in a strange and outrageous way. Sorry to Bother You starts as a movie that just ups the ante every 20 minutes. We quickly trust Riley and his vision and he in turn respects the audience right back.
So maybe Boots Riley was just experimenting with a bunch of ideas and was swinging for the fences, but he also hit a homerun. Sorry to Bother You is just a cool movie that is as shocking as it is funny. This one won’t be forgotten any time soon.
