Songbird
Year: 2020
Director: Adam Mason
Starring: KJ Apa, Sofia Carson, Demi Moore & Peter Stormare
Runtime: 85 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 27/05/21
Director: Adam Mason
Starring: KJ Apa, Sofia Carson, Demi Moore & Peter Stormare
Runtime: 85 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 27/05/21
COVID-19 has changed the world and even just a year and a half after the first cases arrived in China it’s easy to forget what the world was like right at the beginning of the pandemic. To say the world was plunged into chaos overnight wouldn’t be an understatement, as the virus swept its way west from China, across Asia, Europe, and eventually the Americas. How each country has handled it has varied, but now some parts of the world are starting to see the other side of this horrible ordeal whilst others still struggle as infection rates increase and death tolls rise.
So, it came as a shock that early in the pandemic it was announced that Michael Bay, as tone deaf as ever, was producing an action film based around the COVID-19 pandemic. Released in December last year, Songbird, is notable for being one of the earliest films to be shot and released during the pandemic with an entire film going through pre-production, filming, and post-production in just nine months. With such a rushed job it would be easy to think that Songbird is absolute trash that needs to be swiftly forgotten about, but does it have any redeeming qualities?
Set in 2024, COVID-19 has evolved into COVID-23. Now fully airborne, those who are not immune are confined in a permanent lockdown or they will face death simply by breathing fresh air. Tests are taken daily and uploaded to a governmental server, where if a positive test is detected then all residents of the address are forced out of their homes and taken to a ‘Q-Zone’ where the infected live out the rest of their days together in inhumane living conditions.
The few that are immune are free to roam as they please, wearing yellow wristbands to indicate immunity. Many have jobs as couriers to ensure commerce continues, which is where our main man Nico (KJ Apa) comes in. Nico has developed a virtual relationship with Sara (Sofia Carson) whom he regularly talks to through her apartment intercom. Though one day her Sara’s grandmother Lita (Elpida Carrillo) tests positive for the virus and the ‘Sanitation Department’ are notified to take them both away.
Nico uses his connections as a courier to try and track down black market immunity bracelets for Sara and Lita, but it is a race against time until the government evict them and cart them off to a Q-Zone.
So, it came as a shock that early in the pandemic it was announced that Michael Bay, as tone deaf as ever, was producing an action film based around the COVID-19 pandemic. Released in December last year, Songbird, is notable for being one of the earliest films to be shot and released during the pandemic with an entire film going through pre-production, filming, and post-production in just nine months. With such a rushed job it would be easy to think that Songbird is absolute trash that needs to be swiftly forgotten about, but does it have any redeeming qualities?
Set in 2024, COVID-19 has evolved into COVID-23. Now fully airborne, those who are not immune are confined in a permanent lockdown or they will face death simply by breathing fresh air. Tests are taken daily and uploaded to a governmental server, where if a positive test is detected then all residents of the address are forced out of their homes and taken to a ‘Q-Zone’ where the infected live out the rest of their days together in inhumane living conditions.
The few that are immune are free to roam as they please, wearing yellow wristbands to indicate immunity. Many have jobs as couriers to ensure commerce continues, which is where our main man Nico (KJ Apa) comes in. Nico has developed a virtual relationship with Sara (Sofia Carson) whom he regularly talks to through her apartment intercom. Though one day her Sara’s grandmother Lita (Elpida Carrillo) tests positive for the virus and the ‘Sanitation Department’ are notified to take them both away.
Nico uses his connections as a courier to try and track down black market immunity bracelets for Sara and Lita, but it is a race against time until the government evict them and cart them off to a Q-Zone.
Songbird is absolutely exploitative, there’s no getting away from the fact that this film does make light of the very real pandemic simply by existing. It’s like making a film about the Australian bush fires whilst they were still burning or releasing a film about a terrorist attack in the immediate aftermath of one. So, whilst Songbird doesn’t mock the real pandemic, the fact that so many people thought it was a good idea to make this film whilst the pandemic is actually happening is quite disrespectful.
That being said, it’s not an awful film. The premise is something that almost everyone can relate to, because most people have spent a lengthy period of time locked up at home over the past year and a half. That craving to see friends and loved ones, the gamble of whether to breach lockdown restrictions to interact with them. But it’s also a film that lacks focus, it tries to tackle too much, and considering the film is under ninety minutes it then leaves some of the side stories feeling underdeveloped.
Demi Moore and Bradley Whitford play a rich couple who are the head of the immunity band black market. Nico is their delivery guy which gives him a personal connection, particularly to Moore’s character whom he has built up a good rapport with. Whitford meanwhile is regularly leaving the house to have sexual relations with a young internet personality played by Alexandra Daddario. She has recently started communicating with a fan of hers, played by Paul Walter Houser, who just so happens to be working for Nico’s boss (played by Craig Robinson). So, everybody’s connected, but this is never explored properly. The whole Whitford/Daddario storyline has a good concept but isn’t given the time or emotional depth to make it engaging; and how Houser fits into feels kind of tacked on. These side stories do get to explore how different people’s lives have been affected by lockdown, particularly Daddario who moved to the area just before the pandemic and has been trapped in a motel ever since, making online videos to try and generate some cashflow.
The way the film is put together is generally pretty clever. The way the plot is structured allows people to be isolated from each other, whilst also still interacting, and in an age where video calls are the daily norm for communicating with people outside your home it feels totally natural for the film to be doing this too.
You can tell the film was rushed though, a lot of it is filmed using handheld camera techniques and it’s really shaky at times. It’s a shame that they couldn’t have taken a bit more time to make the film look cleaner, but I guess they just wanted to get it out whilst the hype of being in a world with COVID-19 was still a thing.
Whilst the ethics of Songbird can certainly be debated, you can do a lot worse than it if you’re after a simple action/thriller. It’s got enough meat to the story of Nico & Sara to keep you engaged throughout, and the side stories have cool little insights into how the world has changed for people. But to truly shine it needed to be considerably more creative with its story, and to have been put together much more skilfully.
That being said, it’s not an awful film. The premise is something that almost everyone can relate to, because most people have spent a lengthy period of time locked up at home over the past year and a half. That craving to see friends and loved ones, the gamble of whether to breach lockdown restrictions to interact with them. But it’s also a film that lacks focus, it tries to tackle too much, and considering the film is under ninety minutes it then leaves some of the side stories feeling underdeveloped.
Demi Moore and Bradley Whitford play a rich couple who are the head of the immunity band black market. Nico is their delivery guy which gives him a personal connection, particularly to Moore’s character whom he has built up a good rapport with. Whitford meanwhile is regularly leaving the house to have sexual relations with a young internet personality played by Alexandra Daddario. She has recently started communicating with a fan of hers, played by Paul Walter Houser, who just so happens to be working for Nico’s boss (played by Craig Robinson). So, everybody’s connected, but this is never explored properly. The whole Whitford/Daddario storyline has a good concept but isn’t given the time or emotional depth to make it engaging; and how Houser fits into feels kind of tacked on. These side stories do get to explore how different people’s lives have been affected by lockdown, particularly Daddario who moved to the area just before the pandemic and has been trapped in a motel ever since, making online videos to try and generate some cashflow.
The way the film is put together is generally pretty clever. The way the plot is structured allows people to be isolated from each other, whilst also still interacting, and in an age where video calls are the daily norm for communicating with people outside your home it feels totally natural for the film to be doing this too.
You can tell the film was rushed though, a lot of it is filmed using handheld camera techniques and it’s really shaky at times. It’s a shame that they couldn’t have taken a bit more time to make the film look cleaner, but I guess they just wanted to get it out whilst the hype of being in a world with COVID-19 was still a thing.
Whilst the ethics of Songbird can certainly be debated, you can do a lot worse than it if you’re after a simple action/thriller. It’s got enough meat to the story of Nico & Sara to keep you engaged throughout, and the side stories have cool little insights into how the world has changed for people. But to truly shine it needed to be considerably more creative with its story, and to have been put together much more skilfully.