Screening times:
Friday, Oct 18, 6:30 PM
Robin Campillo | France, Belgium, Madagascar | 2023 | 117m | French, Malagasy, with English subtitles
with Nadia Tereszkiewicz, Quim Gutiérrez, Charlie Vauselle
Living on one of the last remaining military bases amidst a hedonistic group of French armed forces in 1970s Madagascar, ten-year-old Thomas begins to find cracks in the surface of his family’s blissful existence on the idyllic island. Taking inspiration from his comic book hero Fantomette, Thomas spies on those around him, discovering the hidden and tangled political and sexual lives of the colonizers and the colonized. As relocation looms, Thomas questions whether the memories he has made are ones he should remember fondly.
Simultaneously a sensual evocation of discovering the adult world and a sober reflection of what it represents, Robin Campillo’s anticipated follow-up to his acclaimed feature film 120 BPM weaves together the personal and political.
The tang of autobiography in this story is unmistakable, but also potentially problematic: If this was all about nostalgia of a comfortable, colonial French enclave in Africa as told by a white settler artist, you might wonder what was going on here. The melancholy and complexity in the lives of Thomas' parents and their adult friends tells a different story. When the film takes an unexpected turn in its final 20 minutes, the filmmaker's underlying intent becomes abundantly clear.
"Confirms its helmer as a major name in contemporary French cinema — one who can fill a sprawling period canvas with considerable visual imagination and sensory detail." -Guy Lodge, Variety
"This visually exquisite, tender film about a boy growing up in a military air base on an former colony is a wonderful watch. Five stars." -Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian (UK)
"It captures beautifully and atmospherically a sense of mounting tension as the military men grapple with their impotency in a newly independent country." -Wendy Ide, The Observer (UK)
"Red Island is at once lackadaisical and urgent, relaxed but with a clear eye for how swiftly everything will end for the characters at its center." -Ryan Swen, Slant Magazine
Tickets $8.75 ($8 cash at the door if available).
