High Flying Bird
Directed by Steven SoderberghIn the midst of a pro basketball lockout, sports agent Ray Burke (André Holland) finds himself caught in the face-off between the league and the players. His career is on the line, but Ray is playing for higher stakes. With only 72 hours to pull off a daring plan, he outmaneuvers all the power-players as he uncovers a loophole that could change the game forever. The outcome raises questions of who owns the game - and who ought to.
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Cast of High Flying Bird
High Flying Bird Ratings & Reviews
- RyezooFebruary 14, 2025This time the iPhone was extremely distracting. It also didn’t help that this film subject was uninteresting to me. For a movie with such a short runtime, I felt the length. The only positive is the acting from the main three was great. If your super into basketball you might dig this or you might find this super boring.
- Desmond DaleJanuary 24, 2025I felt like the most important and exciting parts of the film occurred offscreen. It carried about the same sort of emotional weight as a good table read. There's very little in the way of depth or context for its characters and their motivations. The dialogue is quite plain and littered with lazy metaphors and surface level allegories. The cast is stellar and they do their best with a weak script. There are interview clips sprinkled throughout with real players describing their rookie experiences but they never connect with the plot in a meaningful way and mostly come off disjointed. It has some of Soderbergh's signature camera movement, good closeup shots and camera depth but lots of redundant sequences utilizing the same framing over and over. Furthermore, there didn't seem to be much thought put into the scene transitions and flow. I know people love Soderbergh's style but I rarely love the screenplays he chooses and this is yet another example. Without the glamorous depictions of wealthy NBA life, the grit of a true rags to riches story or even the intensity of a more sports centered film, High Flying Bird is as boring as your average legal courtroom drama. It didn't say much to me outside of Netflix wanting NBA owners and players to know that they'd vie for their business if given the chance and a well treaded take on the exploitive nature of professional sports that has been discussed more eloquently in black barbershops around the country for decades.
