Cast: Souleymane Démé, Anaïs Monory, Cyril Guei
Director: Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
Country: France | Chad
Genre: Drama
“I have no money left.”
A simple story enlivened by a fantastic ending, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’s Grisgris feels goes political too little too late. Westerners may find the Chadian setting exotic and the lead’s frenetic dance skills novel, but everything else about this plot has been done to death by arty and square directors the world over. Too bad, since it is the only African film in Competition, and will likely not get any traction beyond the Croisette.
The plain direction and standard archetypes are enlivened by a visit to Mimi’s home, a traditional village run by women that shuns modernization and its ills.
So, the skeleton story: Souléman works at his stepfather’s photography shop by day, dances at clubs by night. Known on the dancefloor as “Grisgris”, Souleyman is a sincere, goodhearted individual, played with presence if not dramatic range by non-professional Souléman Démé. Démé has a malformed leg that he contorts with grace, much to the financial gain of charming but dangerous mob boss Moussa. Souléman falls for a prostitute (at least the fourth sex worker character in the Competition) named Mimi. You don’t need to hear it from me that this causes trouble with Moussa, or that sooner or later he will have to make tough choices to make some hard-earned money.
Though remarkable at creating richly composed shots, Haroun does himself no favours by keeping his pans as staid as pre-Touch of Sin Jia Zhange-ke. The pans stay gracefully panoramic during a car-chase, sapping the scene of adrenaline and putting more distance between ourselves and Souléman. The plain direction and standard archetypes are enlivened by a visit to Mimi’s home, a traditional village run by women that shuns modernization and its ills.
And so the formula plays out. Gasoline smuggling and a female-governed traditional village adds local color, though too often it feels like Haroun is taking a Western gangster narrative to Africa, not bringing an African narrative to the West.
[notification type=”star”]50/100 ~ MEDIOCRE. A simple story enlivened by a fantastic ending, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’s Grisgris feels goes political too little too late.[/notification]
