By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Anisia Uzeyman | Saul Williams
Starring: Bertrand Ninteretse | Cheryl Isheja | Dorcy Rugamba | Eliane Umuhire | Elvis Ngabo
Country: canada, france, rwanda, united_states
Year: 2022
Running time: 109
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11873472/reference/
Michael says: “I suppose if I have to be grateful to Lin Manuel Miranda for something, it’s the fact that he served as an Executive Producer for NEPTUNE FROST. Absent that I wonder if an Afrofuturisticm gender-fluid musical about a hacker collective would have found distribution in America. Set in a village in Burundi made of computer parts and discarded technology, the film centers on the relationship between Neptune Frost, an intersex runaway, and Matalusa, a miner and the hacker collective that grows around them, challenging the technological supremacy of the white, corporate government. Production design is particularly inventive, despite what must have been a relatively low-budget. The practical effects are believable, and the depiction of cyberspace effective. The musical component worked well too, despite a very different style than what a viewer might expect if their frame of reference is the Broadway musical. At first it seems that the music is simpliy a natural part of the story, a group chant sung my miners at work, for example, but it grows into a more representative style expressing emotions that need more than just speech to capture.
“This story originally conceived as a graphic novel, then stage musical struck me very strongly as what could be possible as a creative piece of filmmaking from a generation entirely raised on technology. We all understand that the human race is slowly evolving due to the availability and constant use of technology that is part of a person’s life from birth, but this is the first creative expression I have seen that points in a possible direction of storytelling from a new generation. One that is entirely suffused with the technological, but also one that is fundamentally queer, eschewing gender as a construct and shedding the old-school inhibitions and biases toward sexuality. While it has a bit of self-consciousness, ultimately, I found NEPTUNE FROST to be a stunning example of creativity and art for our future, and it makes me hopeful. 4 1/12 cats”
Chris says: “Couldn’t begin to adequately tell you what this is about, exactly, but it looks years (decades?) ahead of its time. Also, to quote the film, ‘Fuck Mr. Google!’ 3 cats (3.5 if you like experimental cinema)“