Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Filmfest


Seen Abouna? Simply one of the most touching films you'll ever see. Following the journey of 2 brothers who run off in search of a father who walks into the sunset in search of God-knows-what and never looks back, Abouna will charm your heart and break it at the same time. After their mother dismisses the absent father as 'irresponsible' in French (irresponsable, or something like), the younger brother asks the older the meaning of the word, in one of this gentle film's funnier moments. A bit like the Asian girl asking Rambo in one of the muscle-bound movies asking, "What means expendable?" Abouna is much more human than that blockbuster, and is one of the finest examples in African films about the search for a father figure ("Yeelen" is another).
  • Abouna is on tonight (6.30pm) at the Renoir Cinema, London - as part of the London African Film Festival - in a screening attended by the director. You can see Tunde Kelani's Arugba on 7th December; and Abderrahmane Sissako's Bamako is a The BFI Southbank on 6th December.

1 comment: