Saloum

Ok. The movie is not polished. It seems like the script had to take some shortcuts in the editing, but still the story holds.

It might have bwen even better if I spoke french, but I don't and I felt like the translation didn't do the movie justice. Sometimes it felt flat when the characters were truly engaged.

What leads me to highlights of the movie.

The actors were great, the cinematography even more so.

It's not a Hollywood blockbuster, but very much worth the time.

This was an unexpected treat, right from the get-go. This fast paced 84 minutes of genre-bending excellent display of filmmaking by Jean Luc Herbulot succeeds in elevating the story-telling experience in a Tarantino fashion, but within the west African beautiful landscapes and with the most colorful characters you can expect to see on the big screen. All casting and performances were excellent. The cinematography, score and visual effects were captivating. My only issues were some of the dialogue that didn't make sense to me, and some rookie-filmmaker plot and technical issues. I feel this film needed another 10-15 minutes added to the screenplay for better cohesion and clarity between the first and final act. Nevertheless, it's a great film I'll be watching at least one more time. Can't wait to see what this filmmaker gives us next. A well deserved 8/10 from me.

Caught this as part of the 2022 Edinburgh International Film Festival - the programmers were keen to share it, describing it as part of a new wave of confident film-making coming out of Africa.

It plays quite nicely with some signifiers - at some point our main trio look like evil mercs who kill anyone for money, but other scenes show them in a totally different light - and while it is happy to indulge in some Tarantino-influenced action it is also unafraid to touch on darker elements like the vile use of child soldiers. Very stylish, cool - good late night movie, and took a few turns I wasn't expecting in the narrative.

A journey of vengeance through scenic waterways and hollow deserts, praising the well-deserved beauty of African continent. Unique trio of characters forming up the Bangui Hyaenas. A crisp performance by the cast showcasing maturity. Story manages to excellently build up the suspense until it all blows over. Satisfactory use of special effects. It's the birdbox's concept but with a twist, For this reason it may lack originality but the same was taken care of the final freedom of youngsters. When all technicalities are set aside what's most thought provoking is the mental trauma of a survivor and how the unlucky gets swallowed so the dinner table showdown is a hard critique to all negligences of children's care taking.

I was intrigued at the start of this film as a group of men escape civil strife while transporting a Mexican drug dealer in a small plane which must make an emergency landing in a field. They bury a load of gold there and continue on to a remote village.

Nothing is as it seems at the village as ghosts from the leaders past return.

It then becomes a confusing mess as the group encounters some strange attacking creatures who look like swarms of bees who can be dispatched with either guns or knives. A new kind of zombie apocalypse, I guess.

The cast is much better than the script and story. The scenery is good but in the end I was not impressed.