Stephen Soderbergh shot this movie on an iPhone.

I couldn’t even write this Letterboxd entry on mine without numerous typos.

Really puts things in perspective for me, thanks Steven.

I'm not a sports fan and not interested in the politics of the sports industry so I was never 100% engaged but very cool that Soderbergh is continuing to experiment with the iPhone. The film looks very different than Unsane (in a good way)... this time Soderbergh used the Moondog Labs anamorphic adaptor. Loved the fluid camera moves.

really into steven soderbergh’s iphone phase tbh

André Holland is playing the Danny Ocean of sports agents and I would like a whole trilogy about his adventures

how does anyone have this much space on their iphone

A movie shot on an iPhone 8 about how the system poisons and happily exploits eager athletes in the name of capitalism. Steven Soderbergh is a God.

A slightly cheeky, predominantly intellectual exercise with a lot of impressive formal rigor, so: a late Soderbergh movie. The dialogue is simultaneously dazzling and very deliberately stagey, and true to his promise he manages to get that iPhone camera into some wild spots. But I think maybe he's just way too interested in the idea of disruptor status -- obviously this is only superficially about sports -- and for me at least that got in the way of all the gymnastics (both verbal and cinematic). It feels very self-satisfied (though I would not call it at all smug). Soderbergh is clearly having a lot of fun here, I just wish he'd share with the rest of us.

"We must teach our children to dream with their eyes open."
—Dr. Harry Edwards

capitalism's commodification of bodies and the vulnerable is so ingrained into american society, culture and spectacle it can often appear invisible (even when its results—like the giant, antiseptic mountains of steel built in its honor—are constantly looming over you) and it's quite easy to find yourself subconsciously thinking and acting on its terms; this system has spent a lot of time and money making sure that you do. it's only when you truly see the game on top of the game for what it is that you can begin to seize the means. a perfect companion film to Hoop Dreams; dream with your eyes open.

I don’t really know what they were talking about but I sure loved the way they talked about it

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Steven Soderbergh's recent catalog often straddles a line between overt mechanism and dazzling exercise. The mystery and formal ambiguity of Ocean's Twelve or Che is no longer, with High Flying Bird finding clear distance from the methods in which it is conceived. In this case, an IPhone 7+. It doesn't look nice but I once again understand the intent. This is mostly inscrutable, like the viewer itself is locked out from the system in which our characters are maneuvering through. The clientele, propositions, phone calls and meetings only to further decisions made behind the scenes - it's indicative of Soderbergh's fascination with the functionality of organizations that are nearly impossible to penetrate. Unsane provided a personal POV, while High Flying Bird is dedicated to observing the ways in which exploitation is the only way forward.