Over 4 years of lock-down in LA in 2024 and COVID-23 has mutated and has a 56% mortality rate. Only the few immune people can leave their homes. Nico is one of the few. He's a courier delivering packages on his bike. He has the LA streets to himself except a few checkpoints. People hate him as he's immune and can move around and they can't. He has a cute girlfriend but all communication is over cellphones. LA's Department of Sanitation forcefully collects infected people and ... (Full plot summary below)
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Over 4 years of lock-down in LA in 2024 and COVID-23 has mutated and has a 56% mortality rate. Only the few immune people can leave their homes. Nico is one of the few. He's a courier delivering packages on his bike. He has the LA streets to himself except a few checkpoints. People hate him as he's immune and can move around and they can't. He has a cute girlfriend but all communication is over cellphones. LA's Department of Sanitation forcefully collects infected people and their non-immune household members from their homes to take them to quarantine zones. Q zones are thought of as quick death zones.
Leave your thoughts about Songbird.
| The GuardianPeter BradshawSongbird is an acceptably watchable thriller that’s more notable for what it achieves technically than anything else. For many, the topical gimmick will prove irresistible but for others, it will be repellent, making the decision to avoid an expensive, anti-escapist rental all too easy. Either way, it’s headed to the history books. |
| Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperWe’ll eventually see dozens if not hundreds of projects using the pandemic as a plot point. Songbird will be among the least memorable. |
| IGNMatt FowlerGrimy, "topical" pandemic adventure Songbird is pretty much D.O.A. It struggles to find life in its secluded settings while also, overall, just leaving a bad taste in your mouth. The love story never catches hold, the ensemble never gels, and the contrivances pile up beyond all repair. |
| Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayMason does a lot to make the characters’ distanced interactions — mostly via video chat — seem natural and not like a gimmick. But the real-world resonances are actually fairly dull. Though not especially objectionable, Songbird may suffer a worse fate: being forgettable. |
| The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzWarning: If you are experiencing nausea, headache, fatigue or vomiting, you might have just watched Songbird. |
| The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckDespite the high-stakes drama, there's nary a compelling moment throughout, and some of the characterizations, especially Stormare's villainous Sanitation Department honcho, are so absurdly one-note that it's hard not to think that the film is meant as parody. |
| The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyIt becomes clear early on that, despite its cheap thriller trappings, the film is headed only in the blandest direction, basically a love story of the kind traditionally told in commercials for tech companies and phones. |
| Washington PostMichael O'SullivanI’ll say one other nice thing: The film isn’t terribly long. You’ll keep waiting for the suspense to kick in. Spoiler alert: It never really does, except feebly, after about an hour and 15 minutes. And then, unceremoniously, it’s over. |
| IndieWireDavid EhrlichFor all of its gimmicky appeal, Songbird is bad enough that your entire neighborhood will be able to smell it streaming onto your TV, and it gets worse faster than your nose can adjust to the stench. |
| Consequence of SoundBlake GobleAdam Mason’s Songbird is about boring people getting mad that they’re stuck inside, and the government is oppressing them, and they’ll soon fly free or whatever. |
