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A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Monday 18 February 2019

‘High Flying Bird’ is an exhilarating fast break

By JAKE COYLE who’s negotiating with
Associated Press player rep Myra (a terrific
Straight, “no chaser” is how Sonja Sohn). What Burke
NBA agent Ray Burke (An- has in mind is disruption
dre Holland) likes his news and, maybe, a moment
in “High Flying Bird,” and of freedom for the enter-
the same could be said for tainers in the middle from
the cinematic preferences the powers that be above.
of director Steven Soder- That such a framework is a
bergh, whose stripped- metaphor for other institu-
down latest is a fleet-foot- tions — the movie industry,
ed fast break of a movie. most obviously — isn’t hard
“High Flying Bird,” Soder- to miss. Both iPhones and
bergh’s second film shot on Netflix have a pivotal role
iPhones and his first for Net- in Burke’s brewing rebel-
flix, has been made with an lion. Burke’s hustle is Soder-
exhilarating, no-nonsense bergh’s. “High Flying Bird”
immediacy. Standard mov- is, itself, a crossover dribble
ie gloss has been happily to blow past the system.
jettisoned to give it to us For a movie full of charac-
straight. The “it” is the free- ters who sincerely espouse
flowing torrent of Tarell Al- the beauty of basketball,
vin McCraney’s words (Mc- This image released by Netflix shows André Holland in a scene from “High Flying Bird.” “High Flying Bird” could use
Craney’s play was the basis Associated Press more of the sport. I wish the
for Barry Jenkins’ “Moon- restaurant meeting with his something he calls “a bi- power. Rather than float filmmaking more obviously
light”), whose hyper-verbal star client, the recent num- ble” in it, and huffs it down on production value, it shared its characters’ af-
script has given the film’s ber-one pick of the draft, the street. It’s a breathless sustains itself on the ten- fection for the game, not
talented cast, led by Hol- Erik Scott (newcomer Mel- start to a breathless mov- sion of ideas, exchanged just their politics. There’s a
land, plenty to chew on. vin Gregg). He speaks of ie, set to “Sweet Smell of rapid-fire in gleaming of- trio of real NBA-ers (Reggie
Burke is a slick, fast-talking ball as something sacred Success” speed. It pauses fice towers. There is almost Jackson, Donovan Mitchell,
agent who, months into a and pure and hints at the only for Burke, after the no basketball in “High Fly- Karl-Anthony Towns) who
lockout, is carrying out a larger powers that control lunch, to walk downtown ing Bird,” nor are there any appear now and again in
scheme of mysterious ob- the game with a bravado while Richie Havens plays. of the normal sports-movie black-and-white interviews
jectives. Soderbergh and only slightly undercut when What we come to gather is clichés. It’s concerned with to talk about the head-
McCraney promptly sub- his credit card is rejected. that Burke is trying to take “the game on top of the spinning leap from college
merge us in a soliloquy of Burke pays in cash, hands control of his own des- game,” as the wise Bronx to the pros — “a monster
Burke’s at a Manhattan Scott an envelope with tiny and, for a moment at coach Spencer (Bill Duke) I don’t think anyone can
least, hold the game in his calls the system imposed prepare for,” says Jackson.
hands. “High Flying Bird” is on basketball, one con- They give the film an add-
a heady movie, full of po- trolled mainly by white bil- ed flavor of reality but also
litical thought about sport, lionaires like owner David interrupt the movie’s flow
entertainment, race and Seton (Kyle MacLachlan), once it gets humming. q

Country star Miranda Lambert

reveals secret marriage

white lace gown with her
new husband, Brendan
Mcloughlin.
She wrote that in honor of
Valentine’s Day, she want-
ed to share that she “met
the love of my life. And we
got hitched!”
It’s unclear when the mar-
riage occurred.
The two-time Grammy win-
ner was previously married
to country star Blake Shel-
ton, but she hadn’t spoken
In this April 15, 2018 file photo, Miranda Lambert performs publicly about her relation-
“Keeper of the Flame” at the 53rd annual Academy of Country ship with Mcloughlin before
Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Saturday. The Texas-born
Associated Press singer who is also a mem-
Associated Press she secretly got married. ber of the group Pistol An-
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A representative for the nies has had hits with songs
Country star Miranda Lam- singer confirmed the mar- like “The House That Built
bert celebrated Valen- riage after Lambert posted Me,” ‘’White Liar,” ‘’Ma-
tine’s Day weekend with photos on social media ma’s Broken Heart,” and
the announcement that Saturday showing her in a “Gunpowder and Lead.”q