Where to watch: ‘Neptune Frost’ opens in Los Angeles this Friday. Now playing at the Quad and BAM in NYC.
At its core, Neptune Frost is an Afrofuturist, utopian, sci-fi musical (how’s that for descriptive adjectives?). Co-directors Anisia Uzeyman and multi-disciplinary artist Saul Williams create visual and tonal poetry in this electric feature film, backed by incredibly passionate performances and musical numbers. It’s a boldly imagined film that requires an attentive, open-minded audience. If that is you, then keep reading, because you’re in for quite a ride.
Neptune Frost is executive produced by Lin-Manuel Miranda (tick, tick…BOOM!) and Stephen Hendel (Finding Fela). The film explores themes of exploitation, corruption, and politics through mesmerizing song and dance. Set in the East African country of Burundi, the coal miners that make up the working class use music to express their frustration with the authoritarian regime while simultaneously forming a sense of community with fellow salt of the Earth folk. “There’s energy in pairing” is a common saying, meaning that banding together with their community is the only way to survive.
This proves true for a group of coltan miners who manage to escape and set up refuge in what can be described as an eclectic e-waste dump. Covered in technical equipment and wires, they are literally and figuratively connected to each other. However, things get thrown off course when an intersex runaway and a former coltan miner connect, resulting in a short circuit throughout the ominous “Motherboard” that is their society.
Reading between the lines (or, in this case, computer code) shows a familiar David vs Goliath tale from a futuristic, avant-garde perspective. William has his own history of creating boundary-pushing art, including publishing five books of poetry, releasing six albums, and collaborating with artists including Janelle Monae, Trent Reznor, Nas, Massive Attack, and Erykah Badu. It’s no surprise that the music of Neptune Frost is absolutely dynamic and eclectic.
Beyond being an amalgamation of art, color, sound, and images, Neptune Frost also switches between Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Swahili, French, and English languages throughout the film. Its 105-minute runtime spans entire states of being: between past and present, dream and waking life, colonized and free, male and female, memory and prescience. Its maximalist and unrestrained vision shows a world where all can live free. That’s absolutely something worth singing and dancing about.
105 minutes. Distributed by Kino Lorber.
