We know this though, we've seen it throughout 2020 and the last thing anyone likely needed was a fictional version of a future where, despite everything, things are going to get so bad we can't even step outside our homes. We imagine the overall idea was to show that, no matter how bad things got, good people will help each other in the end. Its closing voiceover is one for the ages and will leave you inadvertently shouting "REALLY?!" at the screen – if you manage to make it that far. Songbird tries to rectify the tackiness of using the pandemic as the basis for a thriller with some cringeworthy message of hope that's completely unearned. It's not clear whether COVID-23 is exactly meant to be a mutated version of COVID-19, but the references to social distancing and lockdown place Songbird firmly in this world, rather than a fictional one. Perhaps if the movie itself was better or engaging in any notable way, the questionable use of the very real COVID-19 pandemic might not be such a focus. Add in some baffling plot holes, such as disappearing armed guards, and it feels like the first draft was the one that ended up on screen. That haphazard feel extends to the script too as character motivations frequently change as the story requires it and there are some absolute clunkers in the dialogue ("I was on lockdown long before it was fashionable"). It's certainly a trickier task to perform to a screen rather than opposite someone, but when a large part of the movie's success rests on caring about the characters, you don't care about any of them. (Sadly, not connected, which would have been a 2020 highlight.)įor such a promising cast too, nobody is on their game and feel like they're on autopilot, with a few turning in performances as wooden as the door that separates Nico and Sara in the movie. When they do come together in the third act, you're left with some unintentionally hilarious moments involving a hazmat suit disguise and a drone assassination. The problem is that whether by design or the fact it had to shoot under strict safety conditions, there's no tension in the movie as it's mostly a series of phone calls between people, with the majority of the cast appearing on their own in scenes.īecause there's no real connectivity for the cast, it drags the pacing down to a crawl as you're just waiting for all the various strands to come together. That plot sounds like it's the basis for a fairly solid thriller with a high concept that, despite the questionable Shakespeare pitch, we could get behind. We're going to ignore the sensitivity issues for a moment and focusing on Songbird's merits as a movie. So Nico is faced with a desperate race against time and across the barren streets of Los Angeles to find the one thing that can save her from imprisonment: an immunity band. You see, unfortunately for the lovebirds, Sara is believed to have become infected and set to be forced into a quarantine camp (known as Q-Zones). Songbird also follows various other people – including wealthy couple William and Piper Griffin (Bradley Whitford and Demi Moore), disabled veteran Michael (Paul Walter Hauser) and Nico's boss Lester (Craig Robinson) – who will all eventually have a part to play in Nico and Sara's love story. The story that writer/director Adam Mason and co-writer Simon Boyes came up with was, in their own words, a viral spin on Romeo & Juliet where immune courier Nico ( Riverdalestar KJ Apa) finds love with Sara (Sofia Carson), despite the fact they've never met in person due to the lockdown. It was actually conceived post-pandemic in March 2020 and became the first movie to be shot in Los Angeles during the pandemic. This isn't a case of Songbird being eerily prescient and taking on a deeper resonance as a result of the pandemic, like movies such as The Platform, Souland Vivarium have this year.
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