Post by Martin Stett on Jun 21, 2024 23:46:53 GMT
Now, I know what you're thinking: "Martin, you're making another post praising a 2023 movie that nobody has seen or will see and that nobody will respond to, get some help - go watch Barbie and Poor Things so you can understand the true heights that cinema can reach!"
So okay, maybe that's true, but somebody has to say something about under-the-radar stuff that is actually *good.* Not great, just solidly entertaining. In 2023, that's a lost art. Let me have this moment, I don't get a chance to like recent stuff very often.
The basic concept of Mami Wata is a struggle of tradition vs. modernity: The small Afrikan village of Iyi is run my Mama Efe, a priestess of the water spirit Mami Wata. But faith is waning in Mama Efe and Mami Wata: there are murmurs that she last lost her power, and that the village would be better off with schools, electricity, running water, and hospitals. Even Mama Efe's adopted daughter Prisca is campaigning against her, while her blood daughter Zinwe is similarly disillusioned. When a man named Jasper washes in from the sea (washed in by Mami Wata herself?), his tale will intertwine with these three women, leading to a clash of philosophies that will turn Iyi into a battleground, both physically and spiritually.
Although the movie does a poor job of setting up its characters and their thought processes at the beginning, it sorts itself out once Jasper takes a central role. The core story is simple - perhaps a bit too much so - but it is a solid skeleton that has been told many times throughout the history of storytelling, and it is hard to screw up. The most important key to this movie's success is the black and white cinematography by Lilis Soares, who shoots most of the film with pitch black space enveloping the action, creating a haunting, stage-like unreality to every location and character. They become larger than life and mythical - as is fitting, since this uses Afrikan folklore as its base.
This is a movie that deserves attention, and I'd love to see some of your thoughts on it.
So okay, maybe that's true, but somebody has to say something about under-the-radar stuff that is actually *good.* Not great, just solidly entertaining. In 2023, that's a lost art. Let me have this moment, I don't get a chance to like recent stuff very often.
The basic concept of Mami Wata is a struggle of tradition vs. modernity: The small Afrikan village of Iyi is run my Mama Efe, a priestess of the water spirit Mami Wata. But faith is waning in Mama Efe and Mami Wata: there are murmurs that she last lost her power, and that the village would be better off with schools, electricity, running water, and hospitals. Even Mama Efe's adopted daughter Prisca is campaigning against her, while her blood daughter Zinwe is similarly disillusioned. When a man named Jasper washes in from the sea (washed in by Mami Wata herself?), his tale will intertwine with these three women, leading to a clash of philosophies that will turn Iyi into a battleground, both physically and spiritually.
Although the movie does a poor job of setting up its characters and their thought processes at the beginning, it sorts itself out once Jasper takes a central role. The core story is simple - perhaps a bit too much so - but it is a solid skeleton that has been told many times throughout the history of storytelling, and it is hard to screw up. The most important key to this movie's success is the black and white cinematography by Lilis Soares, who shoots most of the film with pitch black space enveloping the action, creating a haunting, stage-like unreality to every location and character. They become larger than life and mythical - as is fitting, since this uses Afrikan folklore as its base.
This is a movie that deserves attention, and I'd love to see some of your thoughts on it.
