“High Flying Bird”’s Stale Narrative Casts Shadow Over Rest of Film

“High Flying Bird” soared with eagles for most of the film, however its valleys may leave a sour taste in your mouth.

The film, a semi-fictional basketball docu-drama, goes through the ins and outs of daily life of a top shelf sports agent and a recently drafted college basketball player as they navigate a lockout. Stephen Sodebergh’s newly-released iPhone-shot film is shockingly intriguing from the beginning and shows that streaming sites delivering theatrical release-level content is a way of the future. The racial subtleties of this film, however, take away from it ever reaching its full potential.

The film stars Ray Burke (Andre Holland) a well-spoken and savvy sports agent who does everything in his power to keep his career afloat, and his client, Erick Scott, (Melvin Gregg) a freshly-acquired first-round NBA draft pick who has yet to receive his first paycheck due to the lockout, and has to learn patience in order to get his money. Burke’s ex-assistant Sam (Zazie Beetz) shows her loyalty to her former boss throughout the film and is an intricate piece in trying to end the lockout as the two deal with people from every end of the spectrum.

Sodebergh’s film, written by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Tarell Alvin McCraney of “Moonlight”, matches spot-on shooting with easy-flowing, yet somewhat hasty, dialogue delivered from Holland in particular. Something that makes this picture even more lifelike is cutouts that feature NBA first round picks, including superstars Donovan Mitchell and Karl-Anthony Towns, describing their rookie years. The film also brings inclusive aspects that feature a mainly African American cast and a lesbian woman in power. The modern millennial depictions of this film are what really make it special, from twitter feuds to TMZ to heated arguments on Fox Sports’ “Undisputed.”

The film owns a well-constructed plot that moves along with ease and never drags one particular scene along. With strong sub-plots that start with Burke showing love for his clients by giving them a portion of his commission, to Sam, who tries to help the man she joined the industry to work under, in Burke, while simultaneously trying not to fall for Scott.

Where the film falls short, however, is with the tired narrative that can only be realized roughly halfway through the film. The strong African American characters are easy to root for, but the films only white two characters, Burke’s boss at his agency (Zachary Quinto) and an NBA owner (Kyle MacLachlan), are both seen as Caucasian men in power that need to be overthrown. This idea really reaches its summit whenever Burke tells his boss, after Quinto’s character makes the realization that Burke has saved the day, that he is sitting in his rightfully-deserved chair as the new man in charge.

What pushes this narrative over the edge, though, is the end of film, where Burke’s special package for Scott is revealed to be the book “The Revolt of the Black Athlete,” by Harry Edwards. The cover of the book, which pictures the famous photo of Tommie Smith and John Carlos standing fists-raised on the podium in the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, is prominently shown for unnecessarily long periods of time. Sam, who is shown reading the book first, tells Scott, almost desperately, that he needs to read it as well after he walks back into the room after taking a shower.

This particular scene, a reminder of black oppression, which was poorly chosen to end a movie about black triumph, shows a direct correlation between the modern political climate, sports climate and this film. In the era of former NFL quarterback Colin Kapernick, who just settled his collusion lawsuit with the NFL for an undisclosed amount, there is no longer a hunger for this type of story. If this film had been made in 2016, the plot would have had more legs, but in 2019, it just seems like Sodebergh is trying too hard to connect his fictional story to reality.

This may not be all we see from see from ‘HFB’ as the possibility to turn this story into a series from a 90-minute picture is a real option. Those who enjoy sports media will find this film intriguing and entertaining, but if you do decide to watch the film, do not expect to see anything you have never seen before.

I give this film three and a half out of five stars.