Along the Atlantic coast, a soon-to-be-inaugurated futuristic tower looms over a suburb of Dakar. Ada, 17, is in love with Souleiman, a young construction worker. But she has been promised to another man. One night, Souleiman and his co-workers leave the country by sea, in hope of a better future. Several days later, a fire ruins Ada’s wedding and a mysterious fever starts to spread. Little does Ada know that Souleiman has returned.
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아틀란틱스, 애틀랜틱스
Gorgeous! Brilliant! Fuck, this is a cool film.
I'm glad I got to watch it with absolutely no concept of what it was about. For some reason, every single thing I've seen written about this movie so far has massive spoilers. Just watch it, don't look anything up. Let yourself be a bit confused and then feel the joy as it all comes together.
Had to see it on the big screen so I waited for a one-off screening at Vancouver Intl. Film Centre instead of watching at home. Diop, a wonderful actor who made a strong impression on me with just two roles (35 Shots of Rum and Simon Killer) proves to be just as interesting a director. Always ahead of the audience, not afraid of long takes and tangents and tackling the issue of immigration in a profound way. Very strong debut.
Very pretty cinematography by Claire Mathon who captures the ghostly, silvery night scapes of Dakar.
Panasonic Varicam 35, Zeiss Ultra Speed and Angenieux Optimo Lenses
Red Weapon, Zeiss Ultra Speed and Angenieux Optimo Lenses
Check out this interview... she mentions that Diop cited several of Carpenter’s films (Fog, Assault) for the look.
www.afcinema.com/Claire-Mathon-AFC-discusses-her-work-on-Mati-Diop-s-film-Atlantique.html?lang=fr
Mati Diop is the first black woman director in history to compete in Cannes competition.
80
A film haunted by its own yearning for a better future. Mati Diop's debut feature floats between realism and ghostly transient spaces without a hitch, and is packed with heavy, perfectly realized performances. Exists in a methodical, repetitive state of elemental grace and harsh ideas. Just gorgeous. Don't let this one out of sight - catch it on Netflix.
A deeply soul-searing masterpiece concerning the infinite and metaphysical power of the human spirit’s collision with the enormous, ever-expanding network at the helm of humanity’s obsession with the material. We are not worthy of the glory.
a top-tier gothic romance: the billowing curtains, the ominous sea, the love that transcends worldly boundaries.
very vague spoilers in the fourth paragraph
the ocean is eternal and it is harsh. i think that the waves crash upon the shore because they will be here long after we are all dust.
every frame in this movie feels ghostly. the pulse of the whole thing is both leisurely and frantic. the camera lingers at night and shudders during the day. the sky is a hazy azure at most times and the spaces of the city feel empty even as they are packed with people. there's progress and there is tradition and there is the uneasy mingling of both. there is a large tower that shines with a bright light and a cemetery of men with no graves.…
Remember when everyone was saying how they were so glad they went into Parasite completely unprepared for what they were about to see?
That.
Enigmatic and absorbing.
An emotionally grounded slice of spiritual realism that manages to be fascinatingly eerie without ever delving into the world horror, instead, using the powers of love and loss to explore the mysteries of the afterlife. Featuring some of the most richly-layered sounds and imagery seen in a film so far this year, Atlantics is absolutely stunning from the first frame to the last.
Mati Diop is one to watch.
Flight towards and from immateriality. A tale of two movies a caputlist ghost story of runaway bodies and a gothic romance. There is also two strong aesthetic pushes on Diop's approach, the hallucinatory images that exist as pure texture and a desire to present connection as a way to give primary quality back to the body (I must add both narrative strands move between them). Those strands are never concilied by Diop's direction, but their divorce finds its own form of meaning. To love Atlantics one has to have some tolerance to its occasional lapses of festivalits as it often feels like a great fantastic film drowning on film festival tics. Overall, a very good first feature and I hope as people find it in Netflix, they use to jump in Diop's earlier less compromised shorter work.
