Posts Tagged ‘Charles Officer’

AKILLA’S ESCAPE: 3 ½ STARS. “powerful, mature and impactful.”

In director Charles Officer’s crime-noir “Akilla’s Escape,” now on digital & VOD, a drug robbery goes sideways, opening the door for the title character’s reckoning of his past, and the future of the young man who held a shotgun to his head.

Drug dealer Akilla (Saul Williams, who also composed the film’s score with Robert 3D Del Naja) wants out. Marijuana is about to become legal in Canada, but his days as a violent, mid-level drug runner are over.

Almost.

His ‘retirement” is postponed when he walks in on the robbery of one of his boss’s operations. As shotgun and machete wielding gang members invade the place, Akilla locks eyes with Sheppard (Thamela Mpumlwana), the youngest of the thieves. As things turns violent, Akilla subdues the teenaged Sheppard, knocking him unconscious.

Instead of seeking revenge in the name of his employer, Akilla forms a bond with the young man, recognizing in Sheppard parallels to his own life and the trauma that put them both on the path to a life of violence.

“Akilla’s Escape” is a stylish crime story laced with social commentary. What it lacks in pulse racing action scenes, it makes up for with tense, tightly wound performances, illustrations of toxic masculinity and a nicely rendered story that jumps back and forth in time.

Taking on a double role, Mpumlwana plays both Sheppard and, in flashbacks, young Akilla. It’s a clever casting trick, but it works to skillfully reveal the similarities in their lives. The two characters may have been led down a similar path, but Mpumlwana’s work ensures the characters are distinct and interesting throughout.

The core of the movie is the rock-solid performance from Williams. World-weary and contemplative, he’s part criminal, part social worker and is the film’s heart and soul.

“Akilla’s Escape” is a study of how generational trauma and poverty shapes lives. It errs on the side of exposition in several scenes, but the power of the story lies in what isn’t said as much as what is. The film is at its best when Williams and Mpumlwana are showing, not telling. In those moments “Akilla’s Escape” is powerful, mature and impactful.

 

INVISIBLE ESSENCE: THE LITTLE PRINCE: 4 STARS. “influence on generations of readers.”

First published in 1943 the novella “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is one of the bestselling books of all time. The short tale of a child—the little prince—who travels the universe gaining wisdom still sells almost 200 millions copies a year. “Invisible Essence: The Little Prince,” a new film from director Charles Officer, attempts to dissect the books popularity from an academic, artistic and global perspective.

“Invisible Essence: The Little Prince” mixes talking heads, including The New Yorker’s Adam Gopnik, poet Rupi Kaur, filmmaker Mark Osborne, St-Exupéry biographer Stacy Schiff and the author’s great nephew and nephew Olivier and François d’Agay, with the touching story of a seven year-old blind Pakistani-Canadian boy who learns about the fable’s famous line, “what is essential is invisible to the eye” to grasp the book’s fundamental message of respect for humanity.

The new documentary footage is underscored by excerpts from a 1974 audio adaptation of the story starring Richard Burton and Jonathan Winters, clips from Osborne’s animated feature, a live action feature from director Stanley Donen and scenes from Guillaume Côté’s 2016 production at the National Ballet of Canada.

The result is a deep dive not only into the book but, just as importantly, the influence the book has had on several generations of artists and readers. It essays how imagination and inspiration are inextricably linked, and how both, plus a love of aviation fuelled Saint-Exupéry’s creation of “The Little Prince.”