'High Flying Bird' review — The politics of basketball

High Flying Bird is a masterfully constructed drama that tackles the professional sports business with as much intrigue as a heist movie.

30-second review: High Flying Bird doesn't clue you into its real intentions until the very end, that doesn't make the journey to get there any less compelling. Steven Soderbergh is a master of storytelling and with this film he's given an incredible story and screenplay to work with from Moonlight‘s Oscar-winning screenwriter Tarrell Alvin McCraney.

While the movie takes place in the world of basketball, it's not really about basketball. Instead, it's a commentary on professional sports, how the players are treated and our political moment. McCraney's script is a structural marvel as it moves players (pun intended) into place without tipping you off to its endgame.

Where to watch High Flying Bird: Now streaming on Netflix.

Swish. Full review below ?

High Flying Bird isn't about basketball, but rather the business of basketball — in fact, a game of basketball never actually happens in the movie. Director Steven Soderbergh — who has spent his retirement from movies making movies — filmed the film on an iPhone — for the second time in his career after Unsane. There's something so hyperrealistic about the imperfect crispness of the picture. It's perfect for this narrative written by Moonlight's Oscar-winning screenwriter Tarell Alvin McCraney.

Soderbergh has always been interested in analyzing people in incredibly specific and strained circumstances. That's why he's always been attracted to stories involving crimes — Out of Sight, Ocean's Eleven, The Informant!, Logan Lucky. High Flying Bird is no exception.

Taking place 25-weeks into an NBA lockout, High Flying Bird follows agent Ray Burke (Andre Holland) as he navigates the tricky world of negotiations between the team owners, players union repped by Myra (the great Sonja Sohn), and the networks carrying the games. He has his own self-interests in the lockout ending. He represents first-round draft pick Erick Scott (Melvin Gregg) who is struggling as his contract to the New York team — actually team names are never said — is in purgatory during the lockout.

McCraney's screenplay gives away that he began as a playwright as most scenes play out as long conversations or speeches that seem meaningless — until they're not. Truly, this is a masterful screenplay that's already in the running for one of the best of the year. He weaves multiple ideas and actions and motivations together seamlessly without giving anything indication of where it's all doing until he wants you to know.

Ray is always thinking. Holland's portrayal of the smart and calculating sports agent is as slick as George Clooney's Danny Ocean. It's important because Ray is just as sneaky. Even though it doesn't look like it on the surface, High Flying Bird is a heist movie just like the Ocean's Trilogy or Logan Lucky. But instead a heist of money, this movie follows the heist of an idea. Or, should I say, a heist and a reverse heist.

The thought that the NBA — or any professional sports league — takes advantage of its largely black players isn't new. “They invented a game on top of a game,” as Ray's mentor Spencer (Bill Duke) says referring to basketball turning from a game to a business. However, Ray is playing the game on top of the game on top of the game. Another person who is playing the system for their own game is Ray headstrong assistant Sam (Zazie Beetz giving a movie star performance).

The brilliance of High Flying Bird is that all the pieces on the board and their roles — that also include Erick's rival Jamero Umber (Justin Hurtt-Dunkley), his mom/manager Emera Umber (Jeryl Prescott), New York team owner David Seton (Kyle MacLachlan), and Ray's boss (Zachary Quinto) — aren't revealed until the final act where the mastermind reveals that everything that happened was in his plan all along.

Thanks to the screenplay — a structural and thematic marvel — High Flying Bird manages to be a timely exploration of our political moment without straying too far from its main plot. Not only that, it's as entertaining to watch as a stylish heist thriller. Soderbergh does his usual strong work, but if Tarell Alvin McCraney wasn't already on your radar he should be now. He's the real star.

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Hey! I'm Karl. You can find me on Twitter here. I'm also a Tomatometer-approved critic.

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Karl Delossantos

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Hey, I'm Karl, founder and film critic at Smash Cut. I started Smash Cut in 2014 to share my love of movies and give a perspective I haven't yet seen represented. I'm also an editor at The New York Times, a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, and a member of the Online Film Critics Society.