➤ NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL, from p.28
design take images usually intended
to signify apocalyptic collapse by
white fi lmmakers, like wires and
metal glued to walls, and turn them
in an optimistic, affi rmative direction.
The fi lm’s starting point is the
exploitation of African labor and
resources to mine coltan, used by
corporations in wealthy countries to
make computers and smartphones.
Neptune, an intersex hacker played
alternately by Cheryl Isejai and
Elvis Ngdo, rises up and fi gures
out how to use technology against
capitalists and neo-colonialists. If
this sound like a preachy slog, it’s
anything but. The lighting and music
are vibrant, with a carefully designed,
gorgeous color scheme and
little interest in conventional storytelling.
(Williams, who made his
reputation as a poet and musician
fi rst, composed the soundtrack.)
When American life feels like one
long doomscroll, the admonition to
“think Black, think gay” in opposition
to the mental constraints of
Western rationality hits hard: if it’s
possible to take back control of the
Internet from Facebook, Google and
“I Want to Talk About Duras”
Twitter, this fi lm’s joy – and anarchic
disinterest in a clear narrative
structure – shows a path forward.
Amin, the gay Afghan-Danish
subject of the animated documentary
“Flee,” proves to be an unreliable
narrator. While “Flee” incorporates
rotoscoped video footage
of director Jonas Peher Rasmussen
FILM AT LINCOLN CENTER
interviewing him (in scenes
that feel like therapy sessions) and
more traditional drawing, it’s told
from Amin’s shifting perspectives.
(Perhaps because he admits to the
lie that helped him gain refugee
status in Denmark, even Amin is
probably a pseudonym.) Now an
academic ready to settle down,
marry his boyfriend and move to
the countryside, Amin’s past was
far more harrowing, as his family
were forced to emigrate in the
‘80s. Relocation to Russia (ironically
enough) proved only the start
of his struggle. Rasmussen and
Amin have been friends since they
were teenagers, but the director
only learned Amin’s full story
recently. Unfortunately, that life
proves more captivating than the
means by which it’s told. The animation
is well-done but fairly generic,
while the device of sketching
Amin’s most diffi cult experiences
with black-and-white drawings
loses impact upon repetition. Still,
the fact that we’re never given access
to Amin’s actual image suggests
various forms of closeting
which have marked his life. Hiding
his gayness in youth was far
from the deepest or more painful.
59th NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL
| Sept. 24-Oct. 10 | Film at
Lincoln Center: screenings held at
Alice Tully Hall, the Walter Reade
and other locations | Check https://
www.fi lmlinc.org/nyff2021/ for
schedule, locations and ticket purchasing
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