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Touki Bouki, a review by Danae Cassandra

Where We Are: Senegal
wikipedia



Touki Bouki

Year of Release:  1973
Starring:  Magaye Niang, Mareme Niang
Directed By:  Djibril Diop Mambety
Genre:  Drama, Adventure, Avant-Garde

Overview:
Senegalese director Djibril Diop Mambety's story of two young lovers who long to escape to Paris is a legend in African cinema. Like their New Wave counterparts in France, young Mory and his girlfriend Anta are alienated from their own society and imagine freedom far from the dusty streets of their hometown Dakar. Living at the edge of the heaving, crystal-blue ocean, their dream city doesn't seem so far away, and the lovers embark on an exhilarating picaresque adventure as they try to hustle the money for their passage. They try gambling but lose; they steal the receipts of a charity wrestling match, but take the wrong strongbox. Finally, they manage to rob a rich, predatory man and escape in his roadster. Flushed with victory, Mory imagines himself riding triumphantly into Dakar like a Wolof prince, and suddenly Paris and all its mysteries are within their reach.

A rueful parable about fear and freedom, Touki Bouki has the restless energy of modernity and all the power of traditional African symbolism. Mory's motorbike is accessorized with a pair of cattle horns mounted on the handlebars, and Josephine Baker's sweet voice leads them on thorugh their journey. But the rift between these two worlds is all too real. Though both Mory and Anta board the ocean liner that will take them to their destination, only one of them will stay on to face the truth of realizing a dream.

My Thoughts:
A powerful and challenging film, Touki Bouki is film for exercising your brain.  It was very good, but a lot of the points of the film are in its symbology.  Africans are the cattle lead to the slaughter of colonialism/imperialism, a white "cave man" living in a baobab may be both the off-color of white images of Africans and the death of the wilderness when he is slain in a motorcycle accident.  It's a film with questions:  Can the traditions of the past reconcile with the press of modernity?  Can we have both?  What is freedom and what is success and how do we obtain it?  Is it better to be nobody in your own land or try for something else in a foreign land? 

I think I might have had an easier time with this if I was more familiar with Senegalese culture, but I still found it to be a very good film and I'm glad we watched it.

For anyone who might consider watching Touki Bouki, I should warn you that the cattle slaughter scene at the beginning of the film is VERY graphic and disturbing.  Also, don't touch this with a ten-foot pole if you aren't up for figuring out symbolic meanings, allusion and non-linear storytelling.  Strictly for foreign film lovers and those who like avant-garde film.

Bechdel Test:  Yes, barely

Overall:  4/5

(From Around the World in 86 Movies on February 4th, 2013)

Halloween, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: Halloween Year: 1978 Director: John Carpenter Rating: R Length: 91 Min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1, Pan & Scan 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, English: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, English: Dolby Digital: Mono Subtitles: N/A

Stars:
Donald Pleasence
Jamie Lee Curtis
Nancy Loomis
P. J. Soles
Charles Cyphers
Kyle Richards

Plot:
Fifteen years ago, Michael Myers brutally massacred his sister. Now, after escaping from a mental hospital, he's back to relive his grisly crime again, and again...and again.

This is Halloween like you've never seen or heard it before!

Halloween has been fully restored under the supervision of Lucasfilm's THX Digital Mastering Services. The video was transferred by the award-winning colorist Adam Adams (Terminator 2, Titanic) from a new 35mm interpositive (made from the original camera negative) and approved by the film's cinematographer Dean Cundey (Jurassic Park, Who Framed Rodger Rabbit). The new Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack was created by Chace Productions is association with Alan Howarth using the original 16-track music studio master and the recently discovered original 35mm magnetic dialogue & effects tracks.

Extras:
Scene Access
Feature Trailers
Featurettes
Gallery
Production Notes
THX
Radio Spots
Trivia

My Thoughts:
I usually save this one for Halloween day... but I found myself with a strong urge to watch it first thing this morning... so figured why not.

This is of course the classic horror that started it all. I think it could be arguably said this is one of the best slasher movies out there. Carpenter really did fine work... the atmosphere in this one is great. I loved Jamie Lee Curtis in this movie... and enjoyed Donald Pleasence as well... this is the first movie that I ever seen him in. This is one of the few movies I couldn't see being any better then it is. And to think it was done on such a small budget in such a short time period. While it would be hard for me to believe... if there is any horror fan out there that never seen this movie... I highly recommend checking it out ASAP!




Count:
Movie Count: 102 I Made It! (10/28)
TV Ep. Count: 53 I Made It! (10/20)
Other Count: 8 I Made It! (10/15)

(From Month Long Horror/Halloween Marathon: 2010 on October 30th, 2010)

The One Where It All Began: The Pilot Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Angel



What's the show about?
To be honest, I don't really know since I haven't seen it yet. But I presume its about Angel fighting demons and vampires and saving the population of Los Angeles.

What happened before?
Angel left Sunnydale after the third season of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" since there's no way of him being together with Buffy.

"City of ..."
After Angel has moved into his basement apartment he comes across Doyle, a half-demon. Doyle gets visions from The Powers That Be regarding people whose lives Angel must touch; true redemption lies not just in saving lives, but in saving souls as well. In an attempt to help a waitress who is harrassed by her former boyfriend he meets a powerful vampire...

My Opinion
Obviously I can't have an opinion - yet.

The End

(From The One Where It All Began: The Pilot Marathon on January 7th, 2008)