Have you ever started watching a movie knowing full well that there is absolutely zero chance of it happening in real life? I think we have all been there before. We laugh in the theater because of how absurd of an idea it is – really? What are we watching?? Songbird might have been one of those flicks if we weren’t living in the year 2020 – an age in which COVID-19 is mentioned far too many times per day than we are comfortable with.
Songbird is a flick about COVID-23. Yes, I said what I said. We are introduced to a world in lockdown, a mortality rate of 56%, and a time in which people long for the days of “fake news”. Throughout Songbird we follow the stories of several people impacted by the pandemic. All of them have been under a lockdown for 3+ years and it’s getting to be a bit much. The exceptions? Those who are immune (less than 1%). The immune are able to have just a bit of normalcy in their lives and do things like deliver items to the doors of the rich.
Sara (Sofia Carson) and Nico (K.J. Apa) are having the weirdest relationship ever. Nico is a delivery person for the rich. For the couple, it is worse than a long-distance relationship. At times, only a door separates the two, but they might as well be worlds apart. The delivery service is owned by Lester (Craig Robinson), who had the presence of mind to capitalize on the most epic of pandemics. He is doing it the legitimate way, which is more than can be said about another couple in this one – don’t worry, no spoilers here!
In yet another storyline we meet May (Alexandra Daddario), who is a musician that is severely impacted by the pandemic. She is reduced to playing on YouTube and creating a social media presence instead of performing live for her fans. Her story is absolutely the most complicated of them all, but who doesn’t have a complicated life during a pandemic?
Unfortunately, we live in an age in which we can all discuss (as experts) the issues surrounding a world during a pandemic. As I state at the beginning of this review, this is one of those flicks that you would watch pre-COVID-19 that you might say was a bit over-the-top. It just takes on a different life form when we are living it right now. I can’t be too negative about the storyline knowing how ridiculous it is to live during a pandemic, but they do take it to the extreme in this one. Although I suppose a UV scanner for package and mail delivery might just make sense!
OK, so I can’t completely forgive the story in this one. The focus is just not where it could be – there was a whole world of possibilities that this story could have gone in, yet they just couldn’t deliver. They played it far too safe. It doesn’t have the shock value that it potentially wants to have because once again, we are living it – so it is already far too real for us. For a lot of us, it might be the timing of its release – most of us being a little more than tired with how we have to live in 2020. If you are too fatigued to watch then you can absolutely skip this one – if not, it will cause you to feel fatigued and then realize that you could have skipped it.
The Verdict