Hauntingly beautiful and deeply enigmatic, “Neptune Frost” has enjoyed perhaps the most coveted festival run of 2021. Blending science fiction, dance and allegorical elements, the striking Afrofutu…
Shot and set in Rwanda, “Neptune Frost” takes on war, capitalism, identity and liberation. It begins with an unseen narrator. Her/their declaration “I was born in my 23rd year” cues viewers into the film’s symbolic and soulful terrain. While the narrator sets a poetic tone, the camera gazes around a gravesite where mostly women have gathered, and a minister is offering platitudes. The camera focuses on a striking young man. This is Neptune — or Neptune before a startling transformation.
Williams is a slam poet-actor-composer, Uzeyman a Rwanda-born actor and a writer. Their skill sets are on display here. “Neptune Frost” feels operatic and the performances are strange and mesmerizing. Or perhaps the film is intergalactically attuned in ways that recall the metaphysical ambitions of the great jazzman Sun Ra.
While the storyline is elusive, the musical interludes are striking. Miners sing a chant as nearby drummers keep a beat. Students push against the police with a rhythmic protest chant that Neptune begins humming.