Songbird is a film made during the coronavirus pandemic and deals with the mutation that the virus has undergone. So it directly touches what is still present in our everyday life. And that's not good for the movie.
From the beginning, we could have assumed that the coronavirus pandemic would sooner or later become an attractive topic for filmmakers. After all, a movie like Songbird had to be made. Separated, but the timing of this production is another matter. Is a premiere in the midst of a pandemic morally justified? Does the film itself offer something to those viewers who are home alone and have to contend with constant dangers?
Songbird. Separated is a thriller produced by Michael Bay and directed by Adam Mason. The action of the film takes place in the near future, when the virus mutates and the restrictions are tightened. The main character is Nico (K.J. Apa), a courier immune to the virus, who establishes a relationship with the young artist Sara (Sofia Carson). In order to be able to really see her, and not only from the screen on the phone, Nico will have to overcome the systemic conditions caused by the pandemic and people who have quickly adapted to the prevailing rules.
The beginning of the film offers us a patchwork of media messages that inform us about the state of the pandemic. We learn how long lockdown lasts in Los Angeles and what are the symptoms of the new COVID-23 mutation. We observe a vision of the world from the near future, which is not particularly interesting. Why? Because it is an uninteresting and exaggerated vision of exactly what we all have outside the window. Sure, our COVID-19 doesn't infect human brains, but Songbird. Separated, they do not make any comments. He does not break down the pandemic into prime factors, but only creates a low-flying intrigue around this topic.
The presented plot is therefore infantile and exploits the topic of the pandemic at a time when we did not even have time to get used to it (the film premiered at the end of 2020). There are many interesting elements in Mason's film, but unfortunately the script written quickly contains only a few moments with the potential for interesting exploration. The pandemic and the current situation inspire humanistic disputes about the condition of society, but in the film Songbird. Separated, we only have the feeling that someone wants to earn millions of people from harm.
The main weakness of the film is the script itself, presenting the threaded plots of many characters that eventually connect with each other. We have a war veteran in a wheelchair, a singer earning money online, a wealthy family illegally distributing yellow bands (proof of being immune to the virus) and the aforementioned Nico and Sarah. Their paths will cross, but in the end, none of these minor stories is presented in an attractive way. The scenes shot around Sarah's house and the whole plot of the love relationship during the pandemic are the best. Unfortunately, what is most interesting receives too little time and must give way to a plot invented quickly.
The result is a bland catastrophic drama with a romantic twist in which there is a bit of satire. The viewer will not find escapism here, no escape from everyday problems. Instead, it will be full of drawing on our fears and causing cheap emotions at the expense of a very difficult situation in which we..
