Neptune Frost review: a daring, weird Afropunk sci-fi musical adventure

This review by Neptune Frost It was originally run in conjunction with the film’s premiere at the 2022 Sundance International Film Festival. It has since been updated and republished to release the film in cinemas and virtual cinemas.

“You are probably asking yourself, WTF is this? Was that a poet’s idea of ​​a dream? ”

These are the first words spoken by Neptune Frost, the protagonist of the Anisia Uzeyman and Saul Williams musical Afrofuturist of the same name, after a life-threatening motorcycle crash, a miraculous resurrection and a subsequent transformation. It’s a reasonable question, the type viewers might ask themselves at several points throughout the film’s coherent, strangely adventurous journey.

Filmed and set in and around Rwanda and Burundi, and executive produced by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Williams and Uzeyman’s “anti-capitalist cyber-musical” continues the story of the constant run by Neptune Frost (portrayed by Elvis Ngabo “Bobo at different times on screen)” and Cheryl Isheja). Driven by the loss of their mother, they embark on a journey of self-discovery and reinvention. Protected by a repressive police force known only as “The Authority”, Neptune is inexplicably drawn to a mysterious village assembled from discarded e-waste, inhabited by a small group of hacktivists consisting of revolutionaries and a coltan miner named Matalusa (Bertrand Ninteretse, a musician performing “Kaya Free”), who is grieving the death of his younger brother Tekno. Together, the two form a bond that presents as a force that threatens to disrupt the parasitic relationship between Western technology and the global South. Also, there are musical numbers!

That’s a lot to throw at first-time viewers, let alone anyone unfamiliar with the fact that Neptune Frost is technically an adaptation of Williams’ 2016 concept album MartyrLoserKing, from which the film’s score and soundtrack are heavily inferred. Sometimes surprising, though incredibly enchanting, Neptune Frost combines stinging anti-establishment lyricism with ethereal electronic music to create a film and universe worthy of its place alongside works like Sun Ra’s. Space is the place and in 2019 I withdrew from the slave ship. The costumes in Neptune Frostcreated by multidisciplinary artist Cedric Mizero, are particularly striking – they adapt materials like discarded circuit boards, loose wiring and even bicycle wheels to create designs that are off-set. weird and different world.

Image: Sundance Institute

Neptune Frost not particularly interested in the interpretation itself. Instead, it is particularly concerned with the nature of boundaries and how they are penetrated: It considers class and capital distinctions, sex and gender, power and the exploited, then addresses how these differences are formed and how they can be subverted, re-discovered, and re-imagined through the power of love, community, and a sense of labor value. of a person in the global supply chain. Neptune Frost probes the question of how we create a future beyond the vicious parasitism of capitalism and colonialism. To put it another way: How can one mold a new reality from the crumbs of a crumbling world?

These questions are so compelling, none of them would be interesting without music that functions as Neptune Frostmain mode of explanation. The high-level concepts of the film’s premise blend seamlessly into the eclectic soundboard of the Afropunk-inspired soundtrack. Songs from Williams’ 2016 album MartyrLoserKing was re-edited and rearranged to fit the context of the film. The lyrics have been rewritten to include a mix of Swahili and English, French and Kirundi, reflecting the global thinking at the heart of the film’s focus and reflecting the rich, diverse cultural background. of Rwanda. This isn’t the kind of musical where people will feel compelled to memorize and recite the lyrics, but they may find themselves nodding to the beat.

Neptune Frost is about the connection between joy and anger, between celebration and introspection, between a community and the individual. Just to be clear, it’s a movie about a group of people disenfranchised from the power of technology that their own lives and labors have gathered and used it to give voice to a message. that they have never heard of. “Technology is my brother’s name,” Matalusa tells his fellow hackers in the final scene of the film. “It is the technology that guides us today. They use our blood and sweat to communicate with each other, but have never heard our voices. Until now. ”

Image: Sundance Institute

However Neptune FrostThe message of the beginning may come in a scattering form, which is heard loud and clear by the film’s climax, punctuated by an explosive act of state violence, rather than a successful attempt at elimination. removed the resistance, it seemed to have amplified it further. Neptune Frost is a bold, eerie and confident debut that makes audiences question the very real human costs of the information age through the prism of speculation about a seemingly meaningless future. both different and uncanny like us.

Neptune Frost opens in New York on June 3, with the following city-to-city rollout. Check out the movie’s website for local listings and upcoming showtimes.