Movie reviews

AFRYKAMERA ONLINE

KANARIE (CANARY)

Watchable. About a musically skilled gay draftee. A silly story, with barely comprehensible dialogues about religion, the army and South Africa of 1985. In Afrikaans which slightly helps to get which point of view it is. The enactions of pop hits of the time are better. Too little music and dress-ups though. Too much crazy acting up. Apartheid is mentioned once, for no particular reason since it's not race that's an issue in this gay movie. It dabbles in several matters but doesn't delve into any, not even homosexuality - even the main topic is treated superficially. I love Culture Club but the two songs are recycled in the movie with no adequate finale. In fact, the ending is so flat it disappoints. As for the movie structure, the division into chapters is pointless. The highlight is the ringing bikers scene and the following dance in the barracks is superb: the expression, the choreography, lighting. Wow!

SEW THE WINTER TO MY SKIN

Switched off. Lots of violence and, with the action jumping to and fro, no consistent storyline. It's a bloody mess. One catchy and funny song, "The Zulu Warrior" by Marais, doesn't save the movie. Also, with racial issues at the core, a shallow adventure flick seems inappropriate.

LA PROCHAINE FOIS QUE JE VIENDRAI AU MONDE (IN ANOTHER LIFE)

Watchable. A documentary about children of the street in Burundi and their lives as adults. Black, purplish, grey palette - almost unnatural for Africa though reflecting the gloomy subject. The boys - later self-conscious men in their 30s - have simple needs. A truly touching moment is when they put on suits and try another life. Uncertain how many they were at first - five? Three remain, two are mentioned die. Unemotional but hard-hitting anyway. Flat narration, philosophical so it's hard to feel for them no matter how much sympathy you have. You hear how authorities and the police treat them and learn that cigarettes masked the smell of their unwashed bodies and hear of their problems with alcohol. But is their homelessness that different from this predicament elsewhere? For a bigger part, the film could be set anywhere in the world.

I've finally started watching this year's festival and I'm upset. I was refused media patronage because the organizers' policy was not to work with blogs and I've just seen other blogs on the patrons' list, none of them in English, while this event attracts a number of foreigners. All movies are barely audible, especially dialogues. The website technical help section doesn't seem to work at night when it's the easiest to watch or on festive days. While I'm happy the first two films had big English subtitles on black background, the third had them too small and whether white or yellow not always legible from a distance.