SORRY TO BOTHER YOU

by Le Anne Lindsay, Editor

This musician turned filmmaker is a new voice worth noting, even if you come away from this movie feeling it’s too over the top, for those truly following movies and filmmakers, this is a must see film!

Cassius Green (Lakeith Stanfield), a young black male, is desperate to find a job and move himself and his girlfriend Detroit (Tessa Thompson) out of his uncle’s (Terry Crews) garage and give him back the money he owes.

Cassius tries to lie his way into a job with a sketchy telemarketing corporation, only to find out they really don’t care about his past experience, they’ll take anyone with a pulse, as long as they follow the golden rule of “Stick to the Script”. The company incentivizes their employees with the possibility of becoming an elite “power caller” which moves you upstairs to where the big money is made and where you can rub elbows with Steve Lift (Armie Hammer), the coke-snorting CEO of a controversial company “Worry Free” that profits from slave labor.

It all sounds reasonable, but Riley’s style is to keep dialing up the crazy, notch by notch until you’re at a full rolling boil of absurdist, off-beat, comedic Sci-fi soup. The satirical messages relating to society’s tendencies to sell out who we really are to succeed, normalize crazy stuff, and feel fine that Amazon (aka “Worry Free”) is taking over the world, along with a couple other social observations, makes “Sorry to Bother You’ an original ride to say the least. It will be interesting to see if Riley continues as a filmmaker and whether this will be his signature style.

Since I’m more a visual person when it comes to movies; I take in everything about the production design and costumes, but I rarely notice the music unless it’s actually a musical. However, as a musician, of course, music was a major part of the filmmaking process for Boot’s Riley – see below Billboard​ article which interviews Riley on “Sorry to Bother You” sound track and score…

Sorry to Bother You’ Director Boots Riley on Working With Tune-Yards “So my way of thinking about the structure of music and what I will and won’t do with it is very connected to the structure of this film. The unorthodox film won’t surprise people that know The Coup’s music well.” – Boots Riley

T&T the Large Association of Movie Blogs (aka the LAMb)​ rating 4.5 outta 5
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