Despite my father wanting me to be, I've never been a huge sports fan. I've been pushed to try cricket, soccer, rugby, padder tennis among others, but nothing really captured me. So when it comes to sports movies, I have very little interest in the sports themselves. What captures my attention is more the interpersonal relationships, underdog stories, and politics behind the game. In the case of High Flying Bird, this is a basketball movie that follows the latter; the politics.
Looking at the American Basketball League (while trying to avoid saying the NBA) from the perspective of rookie players and their agents during an extensive lockout (potentially based on the 2011 NBA lockout that lasted 161 days) during which they were not being paid.
This makes High Flying Bird a bit of an exposé on the greed, animosity, and inequality between all of the associations that are raking in profits off of the talent of the players. The film also includes some documentary style footage from real players recounting their experiences in some well light black and white scenes.
The film is directed by Steven Soderbergh, who is a rather adventurous director, who brought Ocean's Eleven and Magic Mike to the big screen but is more recently known for shooting films with cellphones. Unsane was filmed with an iPhone 7 Plus, while High Flying bird was shot with an iPhone 8 equipped with an anamorphic lens to gain more cinematic dimensions.
Much like Ocean's Eleven, High Flying Bird is a heist film of sorts, as sports agent Ray Burke (played by André Holland) tries to work through a business opportunity during the lockout, that would disrupt the sport entirely. The specifics into how this is a heist would, unfortunately, count as a spoiler so we won't bother going into any more detail. It is, however, something that occurs late in the film, and is not really alluded to at all, which--while it creates a brilliant twist-- fails to feel earned, and doesn't have the impact that the writers would have wanted.
Visually, the film is much brighter than Unsane, and the colour correction is done well. There is inevitably some warping at the edges and in actions that get too near the camera, but it does help create a more personal and immersed feeling. There are also some glitchy moments during camera movements, where the phone appears to be attempting to autocorrect, which does nothing to the film, but isn't overly obvious unless you look out for it.
In general, the sweeping camera movements are one of the saving graces of the film. As this is a sports film that doesn't really show the sport at all, it includes a lot of scenes of people simply sitting and talking. Not really what I would call exciting, but the camera is constantly moving; tilting, swivelling, and panning to give the illusion of movement in an otherwise drab setup.
The pacing is inconsistent, with a slow opening scene that suddenly picks up speed and then frequently gets bogged down in the middle. It works well in a metaphorical sense, mirroring the stagnant nature of the lockout, but it does make the film feel like it is dragging. the "documentary" style scenes inserted throughout the film have a similar feel, stopping the pace of the film in its tracks (though they do provide some much-needed context when it comes to the use and explanation of terms that the general public would not be aware of) and overall feels out of place.
High Flying Bird is an interesting look behind the curtain of American Basketball Associations. Did it really have enough content for a feature film? I would not say so. Did the payoff make up for the deception? Unfortunately not.