Synopsis
Play the game on top of the game.
When an NBA lockout sidelines his big rookie client, an agent hatches a bold plan to save their careers -- and disrupt the league's power structure.
Directed by Steven Soderbergh
When an NBA lockout sidelines his big rookie client, an agent hatches a bold plan to save their careers -- and disrupt the league's power structure.
Птиця високого польоту, Magasan szárnyaló madár, 높이 나는 새, Птах високого польоту, Птица высокого полета, Άλμα στην Κορυφή, ציפור בשחקים, Wysokie loty, 高飞鸟, Szárnyaló madár, 空中飛鳥, สุดเพดานฟ้า, Siêu sao bóng rổ, 球高志遠, Vysoko letící pták, Toujours plus haut, ハイ・フライング・バード -目指せバスケの頂点-, Pasărea care zboară sus
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.
Steven Soderbergh loves making heist movies. That was obvious from the “Ocean’s Eleven” trilogy, and the more recent “Logan Lucky;” in less explicit ways, it’s also evident in many of his other films. And while it’s likely that Soderbergh has a soft spot for thieves, it’s more accurate to say that he’s drawn to stories about people who try to steal back a measure of self-worth.
“Erin Brockovich” has the trappings of a legal drama, but it builds to a final scene in which its heroine scores a personal supply of restorative justice from the pockets of a corrupt system. “The Informant!” is an off-kilter comedy about a whistleblower who embezzled millions from his own company while snitching on his…
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.
André Holland is playing the Danny Ocean of sports agents and I would like a whole trilogy about his adventures
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
shooting it on iphone is the whole point. the film is about taking back the power from the “people in the skybox” and getting it back down to the players and the people that have been commodified by the unstoppable force of late stage capitalism. shooting the first screenplay by the greatest living playwright on a fucking iphone is the same as “the bible” that ray gives to erick, but instead of the revolt of the black athlete, it’s the revolt of the black writer. mccraney could’ve went to any studio and gotten a real budget with a real camera and a real theatrical release after moonlight and choir boy, but he didn’t. he didn’t bow to the already powerful.…
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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.