NYFF 2020: Night of the Kings
nyff 2020Storytelling has served as a backbone to society since the start of man. From mythology to religion to cinema itself, humans have found power in their ability to craft stories. Philippe Lacôte's Night of the Kings continues to show this power as the act of storytelling serves as a currency within the walls of Abidjan’s MACA prison where the film takes place. Following a new young prisoner (Koné Bakary) who is chosen to lead a special ritual in which he has to tell a story for an entire night, it is easy to see why Night of the Kings has got the reception it has gotten so far becoming the Ivory Coast's official submission to the 93rd Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film.
The immediate thing to grab the attention of audiences is the masterful worldbuilding within Night of the Kings. Abidjan’s MACA prison quickly is introduced as a prison run by its prisoners who hold their own society and mythology. With a social hierarchy that is being challenged on various levels and rich lore, it is incredibly easy to get sucked into the world that lays behind the prison's walls and be engaged by the functioning society within them. The screenplay also from Philippe Lacôte is a masterclass at introducing this world to the audience and creating various tones. Where there is a clear hierarchy and order to this community, there also is a clear edge and aggression. It constantly feels like these men are one pin-drop away from having all hell breaks loose and within the film lies some of the tensest scenes of the year so far.
Plenty of this effectiveness can be credited to the camera work from Tobie Marier-Robitaille and the performances within the film. The cinematography does a great job at blending the restrictiveness of the prison with the freedom the prisoners have found within themselves creating an inspired visual representation of the setting. The acting is also stunning. Not enough praise could be given to Koné Bakary who remarkably is making his feature acting debut with a complex and compelling outing. Being new to the prison, Bakary's character quickly finds himself swimming as a tiny fish in a large tank of sharks yet is thrust into the spotlight where he is forced to rise or fall forever. His character is forced to take control of a situation he has no place taking control of and this conflict is perfectly illustrated within the performance from Koné Bakary.
Where everything that happens within the prison is masterful, Night of the Kings quickly exposes a fundamental flaw within its identity that holds the film back from being a true masterpiece. A large portion of the film's runtime by nature must be dedicated to the story that Bakary's character is telling. Where the story is far from bad, the switch of focus pulling the audience out of the rich world and society that the film introduced within the prison to focus on a story feels undeniably disappointing. The prison clearly has plenty of complex social ideas and layers to explore and the film sadly can't fully give itself into an exploration of this world due to the story it is forced to focus on. From a pacing perspective this also drastically slows down the film causing so much of the genuine engagement the start of the film contained to be lost.
Night of the Kings is an undeniable masterpiece when it comes to world-building and creating a mythology within a modern-day society, but ultimately gets lost within its own plot. By taking the perspective it decided to take, the film chains itself to a plot that doesn't do justice for the rich world it finds itself in and consistently it felt like the more interesting story was happening on the sidelines of what the audience was actually seeing.
