Saloum

What with politics and the Olympics I've gotten totally distracted from blogland.

I was sad to see Biden bow out but am excited about Harris. I watched Trump's "weird" appearance at the National Black Journalists conference. I've been getting a kick out of his misprouncing of her name, as if that doesn't reflect more poorly on him than on her -is he that ignorant, or is he just engaging in his habit of personal insult...

We signed up for a month of Peacock so we could watch more and live Olympic coverage. We have been glued to the TV!

I check on my post every day, and yesterday I noticed the Daily Motion embed of the Bad Faith video had been removed. I edited the post to add a direct link to the Tubi video. (You can watch it on your computer, or you can add the Tubi app to your TV. It's free.), While I was here approved and responded to comments. I'll get around to visiting folks bit by bit...

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Saloum (Shudder) is a 2021 Senegalese-French crime horror-thriller film, a fictional story taking inspiration from African legends and real-life events. Set in Senegal in 2003, it follows a trio of elite African mercenaries, the "Hyenas of Bangui", who, on their way by plane from Bissau to Dakar, try to lay low and find supplies in a resort near Saloum Delta in Senegal, where they must hide their identities and fight for survival. I watched this during my one week free trial of Shudder.

trailer:

Roger Ebert's web site has a positive review, concluding with this: "This is one of the most satisfying films, genre or otherwise, of the year." The Guardian says, "Director Jean Luc Herbulot dynamically weaves supernatural mystery into this gritty crime caper to produce a distinct and charismatic thrill ride."

Vulture says,

Herbulot, who is Congolese and whose Senegal-set TV series Sakho & Mangane (available on Netflix) is a kind of Law & Order meets Evil, has made in Saloum an interrogation of Heart of Darkness and an homage to various ’80s action and ’90s horror classics that remains entirely its own thing, even as the film’s plot undergoes a radical shift midway through and challenges our expectations of its protagonists’ actions.

The Hollywood Reporter says, "Propulsively lurching with infectious glee from crime drama to modern-day Western to horror suffused with supernatural elements, this may turn out to be the rare African film that enters the international mainstream, or, at the very least, achieves cult movie status." Variety and Slant each has a positive review.

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