'High Flying Bird', the new basketball drama of Netflix, is incredible

Big flying bird, NetflixThe ingenious new movie about a reckless sportsman trying to take advantage of an NBA lockout is a good reminder that It's fun to watch movies about smart people. When movie characters are smart, they surprise us because we can not predict their movements. As a rule of thumb, smart characters only appear in really interesting movies becauseThe directors can not write intelligent characters.

Fortunately, Big flying bird was directed and written by two talented filmmakers: Steven Soderbergh and Tarell Alvin McCraney (the co-author of Moonlight and the author of the play on which it is based). They made an unusual sports film, in which the sport is almost never played on the screen – but then why would it be in full lockout?

Soderbergh and McCraney follow the nuances of what a character describes as "the game at the top of a game". With NBA owners (represented in the film by Kyle MacLachlan) locking their players out while renegotiating a television deal, Agent Ray Burke (MoonlightS André Holland) Work tirelessly to make his clients happy, especially the sensational rookie Erick Scott (Melvin Gregg). Recruits like Erick feel the monetary difficulties of a lockout much more acutely than veterans who have spent years collecting millions of checks, which means that Ray needs to find a way to quickly to an agreement between the owners and the players. And he will need the help of his badistant Sam (Zazie Beetz) and the head of the players' union (Sonja Sohn) to do so.

Exactly what Ray Burke intends to do, and how he does it, ventures into the field of spoilers. Structures of Soderbergh Big flying bird a bit like one of his own Oceans heist movies, with Ray always three steps ahead of the other characters and the audience, while the movie runs to follow him. Sometimes it becomes a literal the race to follow him, with the camera – a mainstream iPhone that Soderbergh used – chasing Ray as he roamed the corridors of various agencies and organizations. The image of the iPhone is not as refined or as colorful as a professional camera, but gives Soderbergh a lot of flexibility and flexibility, which he uses to give visual energy to a very talkative movie . (The presence of cell phones is also a key factor in the plot, making it an even more appropriate choice.)

With all these words, it's helpful to have talented actors to handle monologues and conversations. Big flying bird has a stellar set. Holland is an ideal track for this story. dealing with poker in behind-the-scenes transactions, but tired and sensitive in moments when Ray's hidden motivations begin to break through his polish of professionalism. And the great actor Bill Duke has had one of his best roles in years like Spence, a basketball guru who offers most of the movie's information about gambling and its inherent inequalities.

What Ray offers as a solution to Erick's financial problems is nothing short of a sports revolution, and when he calls himself a "disruptive" seeking to rewrite the rules of this unjust system, it's easy to see Netflix himself – who is named by his name. A few times in the film, when contract negotiations turned to broadcast rights Big flying birdSub-textual subjects. Ray's clever negotiation style; Working on the fly, improvising a lot, then getting the message out to the public through unconventional channels and social media, it certainly looks a lot like what Soderbergh did by shooting this little movie on a phone and then spreading it online. Internet changes games in addition to many games.

I suppose if a movie can be shot on an iPhone, you can also watch it on an iPhone. I still wonder what a Netflix stereotypical audience, those who play Candy Crush watching TV from time to time, will remember this movie. The dialogue is fast and dense, with very little spoon-fed exposure. No one stops to explain exactly how the lockout started or what needs to be done to stop it. The distracted viewers could get lost and lose interest very quickly.

However, being available on Netflix means that if you make to be carried away Big flying bird you can watch it again and again for a monthly price, and I guess that's the kind of movie that rewards return visits. With its frantic pace and continuous dialogue, you'll probably miss things the first time; I know I did it. But I already want to go back and look again to delve into the details of Ray's contract maneuvers and McCraney's sharp pun. What he's doing Big flying bird is perfect for streaming or doomed to dark because of that, I'm delighted to be able to watch it and spend 90 minutes in the company of very intelligent people.