PedroPires90

Anyone with a Western mindset who claims to have no trouble discussing On Becoming a Guinea Fowl is lying. Watching this, I was reminded of Haile Gerima's words about the need for more local, identity-driven voices to portray Africa and its singularities. Once again, Rungano Nyoni does an excellent job in this regard.

It would be easy to be politically correct and say that patriarchy, gender relations, divisions, and victim-blaming exist in our societies too, manifesting in different forms. That's correct. Still, I can't help feeling that relativising this also relativises and minimises the unique pains of societies forced to navigate extra layers of traditions, rituals, and customs. These pains are even unique to people who moved away from those cultures, still missing the comfort of familial warmth and being understood, while living in a different world that, while undeniably more balanced in role distribution, remains cold to them. My background and life involve regular contact with other communities, rituals, and cultures, familiarising me with cultural aspects most Westerners aren't. Yet I'd still be incapable of writing something like this, as I'm far from carrying the weight of such identity and centuries of history. This is why it's perfectly natural to feel uncomfortable while watching this. We have many thoughts, we judge, we relativise, and it's almost impossible to put all of that into words.

The story is as powerful, disturbing and necessary as Nyoni's previous film, but the technical maturity on screen is evident, all while keeping her identity intact, rooting the film firmly in the context and society it portrays. And is this Susan Chardy's debut? Wow, impressive!

PS: That simple yet tense, and mysterious score is excellent. It reminded me of Edward Berger's recent films.

This is going to sound like prejudice - and maybe it is - but I never called a documentary a masterpiece. Until today.

Payal Kapadia takes a concept seemingly so simple - a few lost letters for a lost love - to give us one of the most necessary, radical, and artistically superior documents I've ever seen.

If All We Imagine as Light is my favorite film of 2024, then A Night of Knowing Nothing is my favorite documentary ever. Several times I cried, several times I had to take a deep breath and exhale forcefully, several times I felt my heartbeat quicken.

It is revolting, it is sad, it is terrifying (so terrifying that I often found myself wondering what Kapadia could do with a horror film). There is also a bit of hope. Kapadia has an activist and radical side that resembles some student political movements from past decades. I must confess that I have lost that optimism. Right now, I truly believe that hatred has won, and when hatred triumphs over hope, there is no reason to be optimistic. I keep fighting, yes, but I feel that the time to build a different, fairer, more peaceful, more equal world is behind us. We had that opportunity in history, and we squandered it.

Technically, what is achieved in terms of sound, image, and how everything is articulated so dynamically, so beautifully, and so hauntingly is absolutely brilliant. Bhumisuta Das's narration is also impeccable, perfect, making us feel everything behind those words.

I don't have much more to say. This film should be more than mandatory in any arts and politics course around the world. Incredible.

The way this film (and the script) evolves from something seemingly harmless and without much room to grow is fascinating. One of the most beautiful stories I've ever seen on screen.

So calm, so sweet, so melodious, yet so sad, so melancholic. That's what memories do to us - they make us feel again, and there are memories that, when revisited, bring doubts and certainties we didn't have before. New perspectives and new "what ifs" that will forever remain unanswered.

Was this really Shunji Iwai's debut? Incredible. So delicate in the way he places everything on screen, so meticulous in how he builds these characters and gradually adds layers to them. RIP Miho Nakayama - I wasn't aware of how good you were on acting. Incredible dual role. Everything so good and so beautiful. Of course, the third act was a sea of tears.