REVIEWS
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Today REVIEWED BY FIONNUALA HALLIGAN
An arresting flight of fancy from Alain Gomis, Today (Aujhourd’Hui, or Tey as it is also titled) is a Senegalese chronicle of a death foretold, a con- ceit that can prove alternately engrossing and alienating for the viewer, but is never less than visually absorbing. This story of the last day of a man’s life plays out
in a vibrant city — presumably Dakar — where an otherwise healthy Satche (the US poet-musician Saul Williams, who wrote and starred in Slam) prepares to join the spirit world that evening. Though clearly signposted with a “once upon a
time” introduction, this magical conceit may prove too elliptical for the wider marketplace. But it will undoubtedly strike a chord in the arthouse, particularly in co-production territory France, and wider festival exposure seems very likely. French- Senegalese Gomis’ third feature, after L’Afrance and Andalucia, is a unique prospect in a crowded marketplace. Largely silent — he does not utter a word for the
film’s first 25 minutes — Satche is introduced as the “perfect son” amid a chorus of familial griev- ing for what is about to take place that night, though there are murmurs of a silent rage within him. Waking up in his parents’ house, he seems bewildered and overwhelmed and we are informed that he returned from the US a year ago, where he had been a student. With French and Senegalese spoken throughout,
Williams takes a great deal of Today’s weight on his eloquent face, weaving through the city as he goes
n 12 Screen International at the Berlinale February 11, 2012 COMPETITION
Fr-Senegal. 2011. 89mins Director/screenplay Alain Gomis Production companies Granit Films, Maia Cinema, Cinekap, Agora Films International sales Wide Management, wide@
widemanagement.com Producers Eric Idriss Kanago, Gilles Sandoz Co-producer Alain Guesnier Executive producer Oumar Sall Cinematography Crystel Fournier Editor Fabrice Rouaud Main cast Saul Williams, Djolof M’bengue, Anisia Uzeyman, Aissa Maiga, Mariko Arame, Alexandre Gomis, Anette Derneville Ka, Hélene Gomis, Jean Mendy
on a trip through his life, from the lively market streets to his exuberant gang of male friends, a ver- bal tango with former flame Nella (Maiga) and on to a shanty town and Uncle Thierno (Mendy), a father of 18 who lays out the dead and takes the ini- tiative in the film’s most haunting sequence. Life and death roam side by side in this city,
with the carnival-like atmosphere of an early mar- ket sequence giving way to a haunted town hall and a barely suppressed rage on the streets before Satche seeks his ultimate peace. This meditation on a life turns the immigrant
saga around, looking at a man who has returned to his life at home. His friends constantly question why he has come back, and he provides no
answers — though the film itself does. But the breeze of age-old rhythms dominates, aided by fine acting from Williams, markedly sensitive lensing by Crystel Fournier, and the elaborate con- struction of a world dominated by colours and half-ruined, half-constructed landscapes. The magical realism elements of Today, com-
bined with a suppressed sense of joy in Satche, make the film’s eloquent final scenes all the more rich and vindicate Gomis’ unwavering pursuit of his theme, even if it can prove tricky for the viewer to keep the faith along the way.
SCREEN SCORE ★★★
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