Stephen Soderbergh’s “High Flying Bird” imagines black pro athletes bypassing mostly white team owners to finally reap the profits of their own athleticism. Is it just a dream, or could Colin Kaepernick’s fight with the NFL be the start of something like the nascent revolt in the film? We talk it out on the latest “Low Key” podcast, which you can check out on Apple or right here:
On every episode of “Low Key,” co-host Keith Dennie, Aaron Lanton and me talk about aspects of pop culture we think others are missing. This week, Aaron finally gets to use his boundless sports knowledge to explain what was going on in “High Flying Bird,” and whether it could happen in real life.
The film imagines what would happen if the mostly black athletes in the NBA discovered a way to profit from their own hard work without white team owners taking a massive cut of the profits. Andre Holland plays super agent Ray Burke, who uses social media to circumvent the league and TV networks, and gives his rookie client Erick (Melvin Gregg) a potential map toward a future in which athletes, not owners, control their destinies.
If you don’t follow sports, don’t worry: Neither do Keith and me. And the movie features barely any actual basketball.
Soderbergh is almost certainly using the story of basketball players bypassing the NBA to parallel his own efforts to make great movies without the studio system. It feels very intentional that his film namechecks Netflix (which streams “High Flying Bird”) and features social-media star Gregg. The film is written by “Moonlight” writer Tarell Alvin McCraney.
Our talk soon turns into a fresh discussion of Colin Kaepernick that’s probably different than any you’ve heard before. Kaepernick settled his collusion lawsuit with the NFL last week, and we use that as a news peg to explore whether his protest against police brutality… made sense. It gets provocative and passionate.
Finally, we discuss “The Revolt of the Black Athlete,” the book Zazie Beetz’s character starts reading at the end of “High Flying Bird.” It’s written by Harry Edwards, the man ultimately behind the famous “Black Power Salute” by Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.
This week’s “Low Key” bounces not just from “High Flying Bird” to Colin Kaepernick to “The Revolt of the Black Athlete,” but also to Muhammad Ali, O.J. Simpson, and finally, what’s really going on with the Los Angeles Lakers.
All that, and we talk about how amazing the iPhone photography is on “High Flying Bird,” and shout out Sean Baker’s iPhone-shot masterpiece, “Tangerine.”
11 Movies Shot on Smart Phones, from 'Tangerine' to 'High Flying Bird' (Photos)
Steven Soderbergh wasn't the first filmmaker to shoot an entire movie on an iPhone, but with his latest film "High Flying Bird" he's proved yet again that it's totally possible to have a professional, beautiful looking movie filmed with something that fits in your pocket. Here are some other feature films and a few shorts that have made use of Apple's flagship smartphone.
"Night Fishing" (2011)
"Oldboy" director Chan-wook Park made his 2011 short film "Night Fishing" on an iPhone 4. It's a 30-minute fantasy horror film about a fisherman who catches a mystical shaman in a river. It won the Golden Bear for Best Short Film at the Berlin International Film Festival.
KT Corp/Berlin International Film Festival
"Searching for Sugar Man" (2012)
The Oscar-winning documentary "Searching for Sugar Man" was saved by an iPhone app that cost just $1.99. Director Malik Bendjelloul used an app called 8mm Vintage Camera to complete the film after telling CNN that he had run out of money.
Sony Pictures Classics
"I Play With the Phrase Each Other" (2013)
The filmmakers of "I Play With the Phrase Each Other" boast not only that their film was shot on cellphones, but that it's the first feature film that tells its story entirely through cellphone calls. The drama starring Jay Alvarez won the Special Jury Prize for Original Vision from the Slamdance Film Festival in 2014.
Studio Mist
"Uneasy Lies the Mind" (2014)
Imagine if Stanley Kubrick filmed "The Shining" on an iPhone. In this thriller from director Ricky Fosheim, a man slowly loses his sanity while on a retreat with his wife in an isolated mansion. Fosheim wrote an article for American Cinematographer saying that he purchased an iPhone 5 and a Turtleback SLR jacket lens adapter and compared his own footage to that of pricier cameras. "The results blew my mind: The iPhone footage was raw, dirty, vignetted and unlike anything I’d seen before."
Gravitas Ventures
"Tangerine" (2015)
Sean Baker's debut film "Tangerine" was the most successful and critically acclaimed movie to date to be shot entirely on iPhones. Baker used three separate iPhone 5s to give the film a mobile, energetic quality, to reach into areas that would've been impossible for bulkier cameras and to pay homage to Dogme 95 directors who came before him. The film earned raves out of Sundance in 2015.
Magnolia Pictures
"Romance in NYC" (2015)
Filmmaker Tristan Pope filmed this romantic love story in New York on an iPhone 6, and it's novel for being filmed from the point of view of a boyfriend on a date with his girlfriend in the city. The film was funded on Kickstarter, it won the top prize at the now annual iPhone Film Festival in 2015 and is available on iTunes.
Tristan Pope
"9 Rides" (2016)
Before he executive produced the Best Picture-nominated "BlacKkKlansman," filmmaker Matthew A. Cherry made "9 Rides" about an Uber driver who gets life-changing news on New Year's Eve. Not only did he shoot it on an iPhone 6 in 4K resolution, he also funded the film via Kickstarter. "9 Rides" eventually played at the SXSW Film Festival and the Chicago International Film Festival.
Michel Gondry made his fantastical and colorful iPhone movie specifically as a commercial for Apple. The "Eternal Sunshine" filmmaker filmed it on an iPhone 7 Plus. The film is about a kid's tricycle that miraculously tries to make its way back to a vacationing family.
Apple
"Snow Steam Iron" (2017)
After he was removed from directing duties on "Justice League," Zack Snyder turned to this short film called "Snow Steam Iron" that resembled some of his earlier films like "300" and "Sucker Punch." Snyder used an iPhone 7 Plus and an app called Filmic Pro to give the short a cinematic quality.
Vero
"Unsane" (2018)
The first time Steven Soderbergh utilized an iPhone for a film was for 2018's "Unsane," a claustrophobic B-movie set inside a hospital starring Claire Foy that he shot in just 10 days. Using apps and other tools on the iPhone 7 Plus allowed Soderbergh to achieve a gritty, 16mm look that captured the feel of a '70s horror classic.
Fingerprint/Bleecker Street
"High Flying Bird" (2019)
The bright and lavish settings in pricey restaurants and powerful office buildings are far different than the settings of Soderbergh's "Unsane," but he still found a way to make the iPhone look work, particularly during a basketball game we see through cell phone video shot by teenagers.
Photo by Peter Andrews
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Steven Soderbergh, Chan-wook Park, Zack Snyder and Michel Gondry have all used iPhones on features and shorts
Steven Soderbergh wasn't the first filmmaker to shoot an entire movie on an iPhone, but with his latest film "High Flying Bird" he's proved yet again that it's totally possible to have a professional, beautiful looking movie filmed with something that fits in your pocket. Here are some other feature films and a few shorts that have made use of Apple's flagship smartphone.
KT Corp/Berlin International Film Festival
