Karmen Gei

For a film made in Senegal, based, I guess loosely on Carmen, the book, by Prosper Merimee, this film doesn't achieve a mere resemblance of the story that has been made famous as an opera and as other films.

Ms. Gai as the Karmen of the title is very good to look at. Her fiery dancing smolders the screen, as is the case with her torrid love scene at the beginning of the film.

This is a Karmen that aims to please to all genders, but a real Carmen, she is not!

We would like to see Ms. Gai in other films in which her talent is better used than here.

There's an aphorism about translations that says that translations are like women--if they are beautiful they aren't faithful, and if they are faithful they aren't beautiful. This may not be a literal version of the familiar Carmen, but it is beautifully true to the spirit of the original. It is also unlike anything you've ever seen.

The acting and cinematography are splendid. The score honors Bizet in its tonality without ever quoting the opera. Djeïnaba Diop Gaï's Karmen is a shooting star. The original Carmen's transgressive sexuality, freely flaunted in a way that spills outrageously beyond societal rules, translates here into bisexuality. Other themes are also aptly and satisfyingly tranmuted--the smugglers are hauling dope; her toreador is a musical star.

It's rare for me to want to watch a movie twice in a row. The first thing I did after seeing this was look up when it would be shown again.

There's an aphorism about translations that says that translations are like women--if they are beautiful they aren't faithful, and if they are faithful they aren't beautiful. This may not be a literal version of the familiar Carmen, but it is beautifully true to the spirit of the original. It is also unlike anything you've ever seen.

The acting and cinematography are splendid. The score honors Bizet in its tonality without ever quoting the opera. Djeïnaba Diop Gaï's Karmen is a shooting star. The original Carmen's transgressive sexuality, freely flaunted in a way that spills outrageously beyond societal rules, translates here into bisexuality. Other themes are also aptly and satisfyingly transmuted--the smugglers are hauling dope; her toreador is a musical star.

It's rare for me to want to watch a movie twice in a row. The first thing I did after seeing this was look up when it would be shown again.

This very loose retelling of Carmen begins on a high note with a smoldering, sexually-frank dance between Senaglese prisoner "Karmen" and her female prison warden, but the vibrant opening minutes never ignite into any coherent film. One minute Karmen is all sexual predator, the next she is dancing in protest to her unfair government, and then suddenly she is a smuggler on the high seas... Although the film deserves kudos for postulating the first carnivorously bisexual "Karmen," the broad strokes it paints are so vignette-like and unsupported by any narrative coherence that the film comes off as a schizophrenic, undisciplined melange of "Basic-Instinct" meets "Bound" meets an African version of a Bollywood musical.

She may be all over the screen, but Karmen fails to entice real interest. The movie doesn't seems to get pass the first scorching 10-minutes mark. Still, a lot of colors, a lot of fun in this one. Bonus points for an original adaptation of Merimée's work. Bizet would probably turn around in his grave, but who cares... sometimes it's good to take a different road.

Out of 100, I gave it 78. That's good for **½ out of ****.

Seen in Toronto, at the Carleton Odeon Cinemas, on June 5th, 2002.