This is possibly going to be a rant review, so be it. ‘Songbird’ is set in the year 2024, where a pandemic has swept the globe and we see in different characters how the world has reacted to it. Sound familiar? Taking advantage of COVID-19 and making this film during the current pandemic we are facing, ‘Songbird delves into conspiracy theories, martial law, mandatory lockdowns, and dangerous misinformation that feels like it was ripped out of a anti-mask Facebook group.
I don’t think I need to explain how desperate things are feeling in the world today. we have people not following social distancing orders, whistleblowers being raided by the government for making sure the American public have the facts about COVID-19 statistics, and thousands dying every day from something that could’ve been less fatal than it has been. What makes me not only perplexed by the tone and approach ‘Songbird’ chooses to take mocking real life, but it is dangerous to be promoting going against medical experts and science for the sake of telling a story.
The main storyline is between a boy and girl separated by quarantine. The boy Nico (K.J. Apa) is immune to this disease, however the girl Sara (Sofia Carson) is not, and is being searched for due to someone in her household becoming infected. There are other storylines, such as Alexandra Daddario as May, a cam girl/lady of the evening that falls for her subscriber Dozer (Paul Walter Houser). One of the clients for May, William (Bradley Whitford) is in a loveless relationship with his wife Piper (Demi Moore) and there is some relationship drama there, but these stories are all equally slow and boring. Nothing to do with the performances, just from the horrible directing and story.
At times the film feels like it is mocking the current world we are in while trying to expect you to take it seriously. The tone is all over the place because of this emotional whiplash. The main thing I wanna hit hard with this is that this review is much more opinion based than objective to the story. I’m against the film in every aspect of its intentions. It mocks the hundreds of thousands of people who have lost their lives due to people refusing to follow the science and were stocking up on toilet paper to resell to the people just going about their lives and wearing a mask. As we are nearing a vaccine for COVID-19, consider the notion that had this film actually had compelling story and characters how many people they’d influence to NOT take the vaccine? The film laughs at essential workers, basks in the misinformation stream that we have to endure daily, and will draw every Q’anon supporter to post on their timeline saying “SeE, tOlD YoU!” Nah, I’m not about this mess.
Don’t go see this, it’ll only disappoint you by a lack of compelling characters and anger you in its lack of respect for the fallen and the workers of this pandemic.