In a 1990 issue of Essence, Isaach De Bankolé was heralded as “France’s new leading man,” largely due to his appearance in Jacques W. Benoit’s How to Make Love to a Negro Without Getting Tired, a French-language Canadian comedy released in 1989 about, per the magazine, “a struggling novelist who is irresistibly appealing to white women.” Even if intended as satire, that film’s provocative title provides a stark counterpoint to the far weightier and serious concerns of Claire Denis’s No Fear, No Die, in which De Bankolé plays Dah, a French immigrant from Benin toiling on the outskirts of Paris trying to make ends meet.
In Denis’s poetic and clear-eyed sophomore feature, De Bankolé inhabits a character whose default expression speaks to his disaffection, caught as he is in a web of exploitation that thrusts him into the world of illegal cockfights held in the basement of a small restaurant.
In Denis’s poetic and clear-eyed sophomore feature, De Bankolé inhabits a character whose default expression speaks to his disaffection, caught as he is in a web of exploitation that thrusts him into the world of illegal cockfights held in the basement of a small restaurant.
- 7/15/2024
- by Clayton Dillard
- Slant Magazine
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.