MUBI

Touki Bouki is what differ what cinema can do as art comparing to literature, music and painting. Because when cinema is not only about story, it’s also about choices. Choosing which scenes should be put into the medium and then editing it as a whole.

Mambety told a story that has been told maybe hundred times before and after, which is about a couple who wants a better life in the future by going abroad to Paris. They are a mischievious couple who was often mocked by the society as good for nothing persons. Their journey to get the money accompanied with beautiful cinematography which sometimes might confuse you because also filled their journey with their dreams, hope, and something about their past. Mambety’s scenes are very rich in meaning, without trying to be preachy or articulate everything by dialogues. A motorcycle with bull horn, symbolizes their pride and also their only valuable property, especially when Mambety shows the guy tied and roped the motorcycle into a tree like a real bull.

Crimes and misdemeanors are done by the couple. Stealing and cheating other people are parts of their lives now, for one purpose, the Dakkar port. A song about Paris is played continously and repeatedly on the background, when they are almost ready to depart in the port. Memories keep coming but hope and dream are also appearing to evoke their existensial angst. Is better future could only happen in France, are we doing the right thing? Those are the questions for the couple as Mambety closes the film beautifully and emotionally rich.

Completely nonsensical Senegalese new-wave masterpiece. And yes, that makes more sense than the film itself.

The images are amazing, and presumably, representative of Northern Africa – though I’ve never been there. In the film, corruption, superstition and crime are rampant while people are poor, and yet mostly good-natured. There are a few memorable scenes and the director has some great ideas, but the story itself drowns in a sea of questions. Who’s that Caveman? Why is the guy running away? How do they steal a big trunk in broad daylight and not get arrested?

Leaving things open to interpretation is one thing, but just having random things happen and never explaining them, doesn’t really make the story more thought provoking. Since this film is already in another language and the symbolism is from another culture, this issue really dissuades any efforts at understanding the plot. Is that intentional? Another mystery.

If viewed as a series of short skits about Senegal, however, this movie can be appreciated for it’s beautiful portrayal of this exotic culture.

¡qué buena película! su narración tradicional pero nada convencional en términos cinematográficos, su edición alocada, la mezcla de tiempos y de fantasías con realidades, el uso del color y de la música, una verdadera frescura que merece ser vista sobre todo a partir de la restauración estupenda que scorsese & co. hicieron. además no deja de lado la dimensión política que la hermana con las intenciones de un glauber rocha, creador del cine del tercer mundo que denuncia la realidad lacerante del neocolonialismo, extensión natural del colonialismo

Shocking, confusing, irritating and entertaining. Unfortunately the subtitles are out of sync but the editing made the movie harder to follow for me more than the dialog. I am not certain how the synopsis has anything to do with the film; I wasn’t sure if it was the same movie. When was he ever in Europe except in his mind? The end reminded me of a quote by George Macdonald. “That which is within a man, not that which lies beyond his vision, is the main factor in what is about to befall him: the operation upon him is the event.” I can’t recommend this movie to anyone but the die hard cinephile. If you don’t know what that is then it probably isn’t you.

unbelievable…very good use of the standard aspect ratio…the music playing over the ending alone makes this one of my favorites…i always enjoy it when a film is able to end with little or no dialogue—simply with images and music…after frequently disconnected and stop-and-start use of music earlier in the film, the ending, with it’s uninterrupted score, put me in a sort of trance-like state while seeing the story come to a close…despite the groovy rhythm and bass line, the music manages to strike a chord of reminiscent melancholy, which adds richness to the imagery of the story’s close..