Sorry to Bother You

Dir: Boots Riley

2018

*****

Boots Riley’s brilliant Sorry to Bother You is the best example of alternative sci-fi that I have seen for years. It’s a Terry Gilliam-esque fantasy satire, with a bit of Michel Gondry thrown in, sort of, but for all of the influences I think I can see within it it, this is a true original from the mind of Boots Riley. It’s a sci-fi fantasy but its not all about the visuals, but rather the message, the message being one of anti-capitalism and social consciousness. Like all good satires it is a piece of absurdism, indeed, Riley himself describes it as "an absurdist dark comedy with aspects of magical realism and science fiction inspired by the world of telemarketing". The screenplay was inspired by his own time working as a telemarketer and telefundraiser in California, and his need to put on a different voice to find success. Riley finished the screenplay in 2012, and with no means to produce it, recorded an album of the same title with his band The Coup, inspired by the story. Since 2012 the idea has had time to mature and it now offers a radical class analysis of capitalism, although not a specific analysis of America under President Trump. He wrote the initial screenplay during the Obama administration, and the target was never any specific elected official or movement, but "the puppetmasters behind the puppets." While most of the final script remained the same, minimal changes were made to avoid appearing to critique Trump specifically, including removing a line where a character says "Worry Free is making America great again," written before Trump used the line in his 2016 presidential campaign. I can see why it was removed but it just goes to show how accurate and close to the bone Riley was with his script. Never has surreal satire felt so authentic to real life. The film's title has a double meaning, referencing both the phrase's use by telemarketers and its general usage when telling a person something you know they might not like to hear, such as the film's anti-capitalist message. According to Riley, "the other side of it is that often when you're telling someone something that is different from how they view things, different from how they view the world, it feels like an annoyance or a bother. And that's where that comes from." Sorry to Bother You tells the story of Cassius "Cash" Green (Lakeith Stanfield) who lives in his uncle's garage with his artist girlfriend, Detroit (Tessa Thompson). Struggling to pay rent, Cash gets a job as a telemarketer for RegalView. Cash has trouble talking to customers until an older co-worker (played by Danny Glover) teaches him to use his "white voice", at which Cash excels. However, RegalView treats its employees badly and seem to offer false promise and soon Cash's coworker Squeeze (Steven Yeun) forms a union and recruits Cash, Detroit, and their friend Sal. When Cash participates in a protest, he expects to be fired but is instead promoted to an elite Power Caller position. In the luxurious Power Caller suite, Cash is told to always use his white voice, and learns that RegalView secretly sells arms and unpaid human labor from the corporation WorryFree. Though Cash is initially uncomfortable with the job, he can now afford a new car and apartment and pays off his uncle's home. Working long hours, he stops participating in the union, and his relationship with Detroit deteriorates. When Cash crosses the union's picket line, one of the picketers hits him with a can of soda. Footage of the incident becomes an internet meme. Cash is invited to a party with WorryFree CEO Steve Lift (Armie Hammer). Lift offers Cash a powdered substance which Cash snorts, believing it is cocaine. Looking for the bathroom, Cash discovers a shackled half-horse, half-human hybrid who begs him for help. Lift explains that WorryFree plans to make their workers stronger and more obedient by transforming them into "equisapiens". The transformation occurs when a human snorts a gene-modifying powder. Cash fears he just snorted the substance, but Lift assures him it was cocaine. Cash then refuses a $100 million offer to become an equisapien and act as a false revolutionary figure to keep the employees in line. Later, Cash discovers he dropped his phone when he encountered the equisapien, who recorded a plea for help and sent it to Detroit's mobile. To spread the video, Cash appears on television shows, including I Got the Shit Kicked Out Of Me, enduring humiliations and beatings to get the video played. The plan backfires. The equisapiens are hailed as a groundbreaking scientific advancement, and WorryFree's stock reaches an all-time high. Cash apologizes to Squeeze, Sal, and Detroit, and joins the union in a final stand against RegalView. Cash uses a security code from the equisapiens video to break into Lift's home. He goes to the picket line, where the police start a riot and knock him out. The equisapiens overpower the police and free Cash. Detroit and Cash reconcile and move back into his uncle's garage, but Cash starts to grow horse nostrils. Fully transformed, he leads a mob of equisapiens to Lift's house and breaks down the door. In a darkly amusing but also tragic conclusion, he has rebelled against the system he was trapped in but has also become the thing they wanted him to become. Half the audience will see the revolutionary leader he has become, while the other half will see the tragedy of his situation. Most will think about the $100 million he lost out on, and that is because capitalism is now deeply ingrained in our psyche. It makes this satire all the more rich. For me it has a winning formula and its absurd surrealism reminded me of Gregg Araki’s Nowhere, while the frustration of trying to enlighten others of a larger danger reminded me of John Carpenter’s They Live, with a hint of the frustrated mania and isolation seen in Martin Scorsese’s After Hours. I also can’t help but think of Kevin Smith’s hugely underrated 2014 film Husk but as far as the ‘what we become’ message goes it is a true original. It’s got everything you could ask for in an intelligent satire and more.