Zola, based on a viral Twitter thread, was directed by Janicza Bravo, who pursued a different path. Although it did not make it all the way to the Oscars, this biographical and partly true drama swept the reviewers. When facing life-threatening danger, Zola’s voice is irreverent, witty, and strong. Here are seven more films about crazy evenings and the challenges and tribulations of the world’s forgotten for those who couldn’t get enough of this wild and unique story.
1. American Honey (2016)
Director- Andrea Arnold
Star, a troubled 18-year-old Texan, chooses to flee her problematic home and, enticed by the charms of Jake. The brash and rebellious lead salesman of a travelling door-to-door magazine subscription selling team. They ets out for Kansas City on a road trip across the American Midwest. She, being the American Honey from the South, will eventually find a place where she can truly belong among a motley group of adolescent misfits, and she will soon submerge herself deep into a world of recklessness, daring self-exploration, experimentation, and passionate love. Star, swept up and perplexed by the confident Jake, will eventually take the risk of falling in love and being injured, even if it means drifting and getting lost along the road.
2. Hot Girls Wanted (2015)
Director(s)- Gonna Gradus, Jill Bauer
Hot Girls Wanted is a documentary that takes a candid look at the life of young porn actresses. The film follows a group of young, barely-legal ladies who live in a Miami porn home. The females face challenges such as being away from home for the first time, keeping a healthy love life, and adjusting to the more aggressive shootings. It’s vital to keep in mind that this isn’t a moralistic film. The filmmakers understand why pornography exists and that it will continue to exist. Rather than focusing on political grandstanding, the filmmakers just focus on the genuine emotions and need for belonging that these young women have.
3. Red Rocket (2021)
Director- Sean Baker
Black-and-blue, unsure of what to anticipate Mikey Saber, a fading pornographic film star, returns home to Texas City. Mikey even has the audacity to show up at the front door of his long-suffering wife, Lexi, after nearly two decades of absolute separation. As Mikey gives Lexi his trademark puppy-dog looks, the washed-out actor gradually works his way back into her life, attempting to pick up where they left off. Strawberry, a bright and joyful doughnut store employee, then captures Mikey’s eye—after all, we all know how difficult it is to overcome bad habits.
4. One Night In Miami… (2020)
Director- Regina King
Cassius Clay, the new Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World, emerges from the Miami Beach Convention Center. He stunned the sports world by defeating Sonny Liston against all odds. While throngs swarm Miami Beach to celebrate the match, Clay, unable to stay on the island due to Jim Crow-era segregation rules, spends the evening with three of his closest friends: Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown, at the Hampton House Motel in Miami’s African American Overtown district.
During this historic event, these luminaries discussed their responsibility as influencers, speaking up, defending their rights, and bringing the country forward to equality and empowerment for all black people. The four men emerge the next morning resolved to create a new world for themselves and their tribe.
5. Hustlers (2019)
Director- Lorene Scafaria
Destiny’s life changes drastically when she meets Ramona, the club’s top money earner, while working as a stripper to make ends meet. Ramona quickly demonstrates to Destiny how to get through the club’s rich Wall Street clients. When their profits are cut by the 2008 economic meltdown, the women and two other dancers concoct a daring scheme to reclaim their lives.
6. City Of God (2002)
Director(s)- Fernando Meirelles, Katia Lund
The film City of God is based on the semiautobiographical novel of the same name, which was first published in 1997. It takes set in the 1960s in the slums of Rio de Janeiro, where two young boys grow up and pursue separate routes in life. The story is portrayed from the perspective of Buscape, a poor young fisherman’s kid who aspires to be a photographer one day. His account chronicles the city’s brutality and corruption, as well as the rise and fall of Li’l Ze, one of the city’s most notorious bosses. Buscape’s only path out of this deadly life is to expose its horror to the world through his photographs while war rages on the streets. Other people’s lives are put into perspective as their stories collide with the events that occur along the route.
7. After Hours (1985)
Director- Martin Scorsese
Marcy meets and chats literature with word processor Paul Hackett in a Manhattan cafe. Paul takes a cab to Marcy’s downtown flat later that night. The unexpected night foreshadowed by his $20 cash flying out the window during the ride. He is unable to pay for the transport and is thrust into a sequence of embarrassing, strange, and potentially life-threatening circumstances with a colourful ensemble of characters. He attempts to return uptown for the rest of the night.
