Night of the Kings (2020)
Night of the Kings (2020)
Night of the Kings (2020)
(La nuit de rois, Philippe Lacôte, Côte d’Ivoire/France/Canada/Senegal 2020, 93 min., DCP, French and Dyula w/subtitles)
Only the third film ever submitted by Côte d’Ivoire to the Academy Awards for Best International Film, Night of the Kings draws upon the West African griot tradition to craft a masterful look at the primacy of storytelling. In the forest of Abidjan stands MACA prison. There is a military presence, but the prison is run by the inmates, and by a man named Blackbeard in particular. But Blackbeard is ill and will soon have to relinquish his power. With the night of the Red Moon approaching, he has one last chance, by anointing a newly arrived teen as Roman, or storyteller, to distract the inmates. What Blackbeard fails to tell Roman is that his story has to last all night in order to avoid retribution. . . .
“With Night of the Kings, Lacôte collapses the bounds between eras, and dissolves myth and reality, performance and remembrance, into one whole. It’s an assured, energetic piece of epic filmmaking, one that celebrates how storytelling, oration, and folklore teach us about our past so we might change our present.” – Robert Daniels, RogerEbert.com