TIFF 2020 film ‘Night of the King’, a prison drama of visually stunning sequences
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Toronto, Sep 23 (Canadian-Media): Written and directed by Côte d’Ivoire-based West African filmmaker, Philippe Lacôte’s film ‘Night of the Kings,’ a Contemporary World cinema of 45th Toronto International Film Festival presents a young man’s incarceration in a prison in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire’s largest prison, La MACA, and finds himself entering a world complex world of danger.
Although the movie has some exotic features, oral traditions grounded in the film by Lacôte enable the movie to portrays the universal power of storytelling and how it can be used as a way to survive.
The plot of the story is when a young man (Koné Bakary, delivering a solid first-time performance) is introduced into La MACA and thrust into a dangerous and a complicated world where the prisoners run the show led by the legacy prisoner Blackbeard (Steven Tientcheu, star of 2020 foreign Oscar nominee “Les Misérables”).
Blackbeard designates the young man “Roman”, who on the night of a red moon is forced by Blackbeard to recount a story of his choosing or invention until sunrise if he wants to stay alive and the prison from falling into chaos
Roman starts to tell a story about Zama King, a notorious gang leader whose life spanned from ancient times to the fall of Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo.
Pitched against the realism of the scenes inside the prison, Roman’s story filled with intrigue and magic, introduces an element of fantasy in the film.
While La MACA was originally built to contain 1,500 prisoners, it’s reportedly packed with thousands more. Cinematographer Tobie Marier-Robitaille turns it into a conservative environment, and the moon’s red shadows red casting an uncanny glow over the inmates, with lighting design done by oil lamps and flames.
The other prisoners not only listen, comment, but some of them also act and dance out certain passages, creating moments of unparalleled visual poetry that are captured by Quebec-born cinematographer Tobie Marier Robitaille.
The incorporation of song and dance (and a cameo by icon Denis Lavant), incorporate mesmerizing choreography that helps tell Zama King’s story as well as renders a meditating feature on the art of storytelling.
With the rejection of all genre expectations, Lacôte’s film flows between a prison drama and visually stunning sequences that depict Roman’s elaborate tale and transforms “Night of the Kings” as an intoxicating and immersive visual experience while it unfolds almost like a filmed play.
Lacote generally touches on subjects such as the importance of stories and storytelling and emphasizes the fact that even some of the best stories don’t stand up to close scrutiny.
Lacôte has directed short films, documentaries, and series, including Somnambule (96), Cairo Hours (03), Chronicles of War in the Ivory Coast (08), the TIFF selection To Repel Ghosts (13), and Run (14). Night of the Kings (20) is his latest film.
Produced by Delphine Jaquet, Yanick Letourneau, Ernest Konan, Yoro Mbaye at Venice Film Festival (Horizons), and Cinematography by Tobie Marier Robitaille, the cast of the film includes Kone Bakary, Steve Tientcheu, Rasmane Ouedraogo, Issaka Sawadogo, Digbeu Jean Cyrille, Abdoul Karim Konate, Anzian Marcel, Laetitia Ky, Denis Lavant.sual experience while it unfolds almost like a filmed play.
Lacote generally touches on subjects such as the importance of stories and storytelling and emphasizes the fact that even some of the best stories don’t stand up to close scrutiny.
Lacôte has directed short films, documentaries, and series, including Somnambule (96), Cairo Hours (03), Chronicles of War in the Ivory Coast (08), the TIFF selection To Repel Ghosts (13), and Run (14). Night of the Kings (20) is his latest film.
Produced by Delphine Jaquet, Yanick Letourneau, Ernest Konan, Yoro Mbaye at Venice Film Festival (Horizons), and Cinematography by Tobie Marier Robitaille, the cast of the film includes Kone Bakary, Steve Tientcheu, Rasmane Ouedraogo, Issaka Sawadogo, Digbeu Jean Cyrille, Abdoul Karim Konate, Anzian Marcel, Laetitia Ky, Denis Lavant.