|
 (072822)
Neptune Frost is an oddly invigorating and highly transgressive afro futurist
musical which was shot in Rwanda and Burandi. It takes place in the past,
present and future as well as in reality and in dreams. It is also a techno
allegory that is anti-colonial and anti-capitalistic.
Although I had one of the best experiences at a screening watching it so far
this year, this is a very difficult film to interpret and critique in words
because much of what makes up the film’s appeal is conveyed in abstract hard to
pin down visuals which have unlimited possibilities of symbolic content. At
times it is more like a feature length surrealist music video than a traditional
narrative movie.
“Frost” is the magical beautifully colored messenger bird while “Neptune” is the
name of one of the main characters. While this is not exactly like anything else
I have seen there are a few familiar elements like the techno messiah idea that
come from The Matrix, the all black cyber hactivist village bears some
resemblance to one of the villages in the
Black Panther
film.
This highly original film is a great showcase for the talents of rapper, Saul
Williams and his wife, the director, Anisa Uzeyman who seem to have nearly
unlimited imaginations and potential. Uzeyman, who is from Rwanda, and Williams
who is American worked as co-directors and they wanted to mesh their culture and
languages and create a universalist vibe like they did in their marriage. The
film is in English, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Swahili, and French with English
sub-titles.
It was originally planned as a three-part multimedia project and it was
originally supposed to include an album, graphic novel (both titled
Martyrloserking) and a play, but the play eventually turned into this movie.
(Another ambitious graphic novel/CD crossover project, Emanon which was put out
by former Miles Davis sideman and Weather Report leader, Wayne Shorter is also
highly recommended.)
The Neptune Frost film is a veritable feast for both the eyes and ears. Much of
the soundtrack and many of the film’s ideas were derived from Williams’ 2016
recording, Martyrloserking, while the eye-catching costumes were designed by
popular artist, Cedric Mizero, who like Nick Cave (whose works are currently
displayed at a great show at the MCA) often uses found objects in his costumes,
such as bicycle wheels and loose wiring. Mizero believes that the devices we use
are rooted in the earth and humans should be considered the technology, and he
said “Technology’s integration into society makes it as much a part of us as
external from us. The challenge is ensuring that it is used to empower those
who were overlooked. This nicely sums up the message of the whole film.
Despite many reviews calling this is a punk or hip-hop musical most of the music
sounds like it belongs in neither genre. The music like the film is both tribal
or traditional yet modern and technological. Revisionist or aniti-musicals
like this and Jeanette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc or Dancing in the Dark all try to do something shockingly new
with the genre and are much more satisfying and memorable than more
traditional recent musical films like La La Land,
Chicago
and the Spielberg
version of
West Side Story.
Neptune Frost takes place (like lots of cyberpunk) after a terrible war. A
totalitarian government takes over, free speech in universities is smashed and
we see to images of a policeman crunching the neck of a civilian with his feet, which
echoes the real-life brutality of George Floyd.
People in this dystopia, the darkest most tyrannical possible variation
of a capitalist society, greet each other with “unanimous gold mine” which
conveys their naiveté. zombie like optimism and complete embrace of corporate
rule. Audiences might ask will this eventually happen or is this us now?
When the film starts we see a weird, otherworldly pan of the orange and gray
rocks in a magnificent mine. Two of the main characters, Matalusa (Kaya Free)
and Techno (Bertrand Nineretse) are brothers who work in an open pit mine in
Burandi. Matalusa finds and examines a piece of coltan, a metal used in the
all-important I Phones and other electronics.
Because he temporarily was distracted from work, his sadistic foreman brutally
bludgeons Techno in the head with a gun until he dies which naturally horrifies
his brother, Matalusa. In one of the most dynamic scenes Matalusa does a morning
dance surrounded by tribal drummers, with shovels beating the ground for
additional sound. Many of the drummers are real refugees from Burundi that were
displaced by the war. After fleeing the mine, a waking dream takes him to
another reality that is free from boundaries of gender and class-suggesting that
liberation from one is linked to liberation in the other.
Eventually he crosses paths with the other main character in the story. Neptune (played by both the female Cheryl Isheja and male Elvis Ngao)
an intersex (defined as someone who does not fit traditional notions of a male
or female) runaway finds a man she trusts, but right away he tries to violate
her. She ends up running away and she meets up with Matalusa at a hacktivist
enclave, shelters made up of discarded computer mother boards repurposed as
housing.
Both the cyber hacktivist, Neptune and the mine worker, Matalusa are disgusted
by the world as it is and combine their skills and energies to start a
revolution against the oppressive forces of capitalism, uniting the proletariat
workers and techie class. They do this using the force of their unbridled
creativity and individuality. The artist, Banksy would like this idea. They
accomplish this by restoring and becoming active on the Internet which had long
been banned by the government. Near the film’s climax after the cyber rebels
have reconnected to the main frame which links to the past, present and
future and they yell out: “Five billion followers. I own the Internet!” This whole idea behind the film reminded me a bit of the Outkast performance on
the Grammy's in which the band, accompanied by African American dancers in Native
American outfits, arrives and uses their art to liberate people from the
restrictions of a totalitarian government.
This film is highly recommended for those brave souls and kindred spirits that
are sick of sequels and franchise films with fast cuts and big explosions that
want to digest something truly challenging, thought provoking and innovative. It
is also the greatest African cyber punk musical I have ever seen or that I am
ever likely to see. To update and paraphrase a line from famous rock critic Jon Landau
in his seminal Bruce Springsteen review: "I have seen the future of sci fi film, and the
future is Neptune Frost."
|
