Rating: NNNNN
DJIBRIL DIOP MAMBETY: THE POET OF AFRICAN CINEMA brings together a small but potent body of work by one of world cinema’s sharpest mavericks. Cinematheque Ontario’s Mambety weekend kicks off with his two final films. Le Franc is a loopy satire about money madness in Senegal, while La Petite Vendeuse De Soleil (both Friday, February 25, 6:30 pm) tracks a little girl flogging newspapers in the street. But Mambety’s legacy rests on his two feature films, each one a work of wild, singular brilliance. Touki Bouki (Saturday, February 26, 8:45 pm) is Africa’s Breathless, its Wild At Heart, a couple-on-the-run movie that gives props to all its influences, then leaps into brand new terrain. Hyenas (Saturday, February 26, 6:30 pm), made 20 years later, tells a story of a woman’s slow revenge, with both dignity and razor wit. Mambety died, far too soon, in 1998. His films should be a part of every film buff’s repertoire. NNNNN (Cinematheque Ontario, February 25 and 26)
