Misfortunes of Imaginary Beings: 09/01/19

A blog formerly known as Bookishness / By Charles Matthews

"Dazzled by so many and such marvelous inventions, the people of Macondo ... became indignant over the living images that the prosperous merchant Bruno Crespi projected in the theater with the lion-head ticket windows, for a character who had died and was buried in one film and for whose misfortune tears had been shed would reappear alive and transformed into an Arab in the next one. The audience, who had paid two cents apiece to share the difficulties of the actors, would not tolerate that outlandish fraud and they broke up the seats. The mayor, at the urging of Bruno Crespi, explained in a proclamation that the cinema was a machine of illusions that did not merit the emotional outbursts of the audience. With that discouraging explanation many ... decided not to return to the movies, considering that they already had too many troubles of their own to weep over the acted-out misfortunes of imaginary beings."
--Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude

Sunday, September 1, 2019

Yeelen (Souleymane Cissé, 1987)

Issiaka Kane in Yeelen

Cast: Issiaka Kane, Aoua Sangare, Niamanto Sanogo, Balla Moussa Keita, Soumba Traore, Ismaila Sarr, Youssouf Tenin Cissé, Koke Sangare. Screenplay: Souleymane Cissé. Cinematography: Jean-Noël Ferragut, Jean-Michel Humeau. Production design: Kossa Mody Keita. Film editing: Dounama Coulibaly, Andrée Davanture, Jenny Frenck, Nathalie Goepfert, Seipati Keita, Marie-Catherine Miqueau, Seipati N'Xumalo. Music: Salif Keita, Michel Portal.

A fascinating but at times hard to follow fable set in the legendary past of Mali, Yeelen tells of a generational conflict focused on the somewhat Oedipal relationship of father and son. Niankora (Issiaka Kane) clashes with his father, Soma (Niamanto Sanogo), over the father's use of magic to enrich himself. When Soma dreams that his son will kill him, Niankora is forced to flee, aided by his mother (Soumba Traore) and stealing some of the father's magic totems. The film traces Niankora's odyssey as he's pursued by his father, leading to a final showdown. Some remarkable imagery adds to the universality of the story.