RICHARD WORTH relishes the fleeting moment and sense of flow of the late, great saxophonist
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Film round-up: October 24, 2024
Colonial plunder goes home, chilly euthanasia, transsexual drug baron and venom’s end: The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Dahomey, The Room Next Door, Emilia Perez and Venom: The Last Dance
Mati Diop's Dahomey
[IMDb]
DENNIS BROE notes the thin, unfunny and apolitical quality of the gruel dished up by the US networks and studios for mass consumption
BARBARA BOSWELL remembers South African poet, storyteller, publisher, editor and activist Diana Ferrus (1953-2026)
HELEN VASSALLO recommends a gripping Argentinian crime story about gender violence and the weaponisation of religion
New releases from Steve Swallow, Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts, and Ady Johnson
When the ravages of Alzheimer’s leave an elderly woman marooned in painful memories of October 1950, her grandchild comes up with a creative strategy.
New releases from Simone White, Brass Funkeys, and Souad Massi
Dahomey (PG)
Directed by Mati Diop
★★★
WINNER of the coveted Golden Bear award at this year’s Berlinale, Dahomey is an immersive and haunting work from co-writer director Mati Diop which explores the effects of colonisation, appropriation, self-determination and restitution.
It follows the return in November 2021 of 26 royal treasures from the Kingdom of Dahomey by the French government. They were among thousands of others plundered by French colonial troops in 1892.
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