'Atlantics' NYFF review — Transatlanticism in a movie
Atlantics follows a group of workers in Dakar as they leave the country by boat looking for a better life.
One-sentence review: Atlantics has an intriguing enough story and Mati Diop manages some fascinating scenes of tension and emotion, but it lacks the narrative momentum for it to really take off.
Details: ? Mati Diop // ?????? Senegal, France, Belgium // ⏳ 104 minutes
The cast: Mame Bineta Sane, Amadou Mbow, Ibrahima Traoré
Where to watch Atlantics: Playing at the New York Film Festival October 9th & 10th. Tickets here.
Atlantics is a meditative movie. Director Mati Diop — who became the first black woman to compete for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival this year — wasn’t afraid to go slow or make the story relatively slight considering where it could have gone. The end product is better and worse for it.
Atlantics takes place in Dakar, on the Atlantic coast of Senegal in West Africa, where a group of workers argues with the management of the construction project they’re work…