SONGBIRD
(director/writer: Adam Mason; screenwriter: Simon Boyes; cinematographer: Jacques Jouffret; editor: Geoffrey O’Brien; music: Lorne Balfe; cast: K.J. Apa (Nico), Sofia Carson (Sara), Craig Robinson (Lester), Bradley Whitford (William Griffin), Peter Stormare (Emmett Harland), Alexandra Daddario (May), Paul Walter Hauser (Dozer), Demi Moore (Piper Griffin), Elpidia Carrilo (granny); Runtime: 84; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Michael Bay/Andrew Sugarman/Marcal A. Brown/Jeanette Volturno; STX Films; 2020)
“The source of this terrible film is the schlocky producer Michael Bay.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
A crass Covid-23 thriller that was misdirected by writer-director Adam Mason (“Hangman”/”Junkie “) and co-written as if a low-level gimmicky thriller by Simon Boyes. It’s a rip-off of the theme from”The Purge.” The source of this terrible film is the schlocky producer Michael Bay. It might induce vomiting and other symptoms occurring with Covid-19 if viewed, as the best chance of being immune to such movies is just staying away from them.
It was shot this summer, making it the first film made during the pandemic to be about it. The wonder is in how such dreck could have enlisted so many respectable actors if they weren’t even getting paid that well for doing the low-budget film.
The simplistic plot muses that in 2024, after 110 million deaths, the coronavirus has mutated into “COVID-23.” America is into the 213th week of a lockdown in Los Angeles, where there are concentration camp-like “Q-zones” for the infected to die ugly in their wastes.
Songbird tells of two young would-be lovers–one is the COVID-immune courier Nico (K.J. Apa) and the other is the lockdown beauty Sara (Sofia Carson). While Nico gets around L.A. freely because of his immunity bracelet, Sara must stay home. They communicate through computer screens. When Sara’s elderly live-in grandmother (Elpidia Carrilo) gets Covid, Nico has to rescue Sara from her apartment in time.
The virus exploitation film with a deadly COVID-19 conceit is poorly conceived and is executed in front of a shaky camera.
REVIEWED ON 12/27/2020 GRADE: D