7/10
A Darkly Funny Satire
17 October 2018
Sorry To Bother You is a weird film. Not that that's a bad thing. It takes strange twists and turns, all while saying interesting things and presenting something thought provoking.

STBY is about Cassius "Cash" Green, a man who just needs to make a buck at his horrible telemarketer job and just get by. After finding he has a talent for sales while using his "white voice", he's propelled to the upper echelon of elite salespeople at the company. But that's just the first act. Any more and I'll spoil what this film has in store for you. The pace of it all is very quick and kept me wondering what could happen next. Every time I thought I knew where it was going, it jerked me into another dimension. The only gripe I had with the story is that the side plot of the friend who is trying to get with his girlfriend seems totally unnecessary. It could be taken out of the movie completely and nothing would be different.

The acting is great, with all the actors either embracing the insanity or not knowing what exactly to do with it. Everyone is fun to watch and see how they would react to their new situations.

The cinematography was excellent. From the first act and how dull and drab and out of focus everything is due to our main character's disinterest in his life and job, to the second act's sharp clarity where he is focused on doing the best he can at his job. The third act feels like a dream where everything is bright but hazy. There's a lot of great subtle visual metaphors throughout that make it fun to analyze as well. I would love to watch this again and see what I missed.

The soundtrack for this is just as trippy and weird. Lots of loops and weird instrumentation can be heard. Some members of the band Tune-Yards do the composition and it really does show. It keeps the kooky and psychedelic atmosphere alive.

Aside from some wonky "white voice" lip sync and the one story gripe, this is an awesome movie. Don't expect to laugh as much, but definitely expect to say "WTF???!!???" a whole lot.
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