‘Zola’ Broke the Rules, and Janicza Bravo Deserves Awards for Taking It There

Hollywood may not have always known what to do with Janicza Bravo, but she certainly knew what to do with it.

The visionary filmmaker behind “Zola,” one of the year’s most inventive and incisive films, Bravo has said her films don’t typically fit the mold of what the industry expects from Black women.Her first film, “Lemon,” was about an insufferable white guy.

And while no one is better equipped to skewer insufferable white guys than a brilliant Black woman, that’s a fact most risk-averse executives are not usually smart enough to understand.

Luckily for Bravo, and everyone else, A24 and Christine Vachon got it.Bursting onto the summer film slate after a long theatrical hiatus, “Zola” offered a triumphant welcome home for cinephiles.

After months of watching movies at home, “Zola” was a rousing assault on all those dormant senses.

Bursting with vivid color shot by rising star Ari Wegner,

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