Neptune Frost, the directorial debut from American writer and composer Saul Williams and Rwandan-born artist and cinematographer Anisia Uzeyman, joins an Afro-futurist lineage that includes John Coney's 1972 Sun Ra spectacular Space Is the Place and Ngozi Onwurah's 1995 dystopian vision Welcome II the Terrordome.
The couple's multilingual cyberpunk musical merges past and present with reality and fantasy to examine the ways people of color have been oppressed through the years and the creative, collaborative ways they can manifest a more equitable world.
The concept first took root in Williams's fifth album, 2016's Martyr Loser King, which revolves around a Burundi hacker, though previous recordings also hewed towards the futuristic through collaborations with Trent Reznor and Janelle Monáe.
The film begins in a Burundi mine where workers excavate coltan, a metallic ore used in electronic devices (the film was shot in Rwanda). When a foreman kills his brother, Tekno, Matalusa (Bertrand Ninteretse), splits the scene. His travels through the forest that leads him to Digitaria, an anti-colonialist collective where members bedecked in glitter and neon face paint welcome him with open arms. Their off-the-grid existence allows them to look after each other, free from exploitation and abuse.
After their aunt dies, intersex hacker Neptune (played briefly by Elvis Ngabo, then mostly by the striking Cheryl Isheja), also seeking refuge from difficult circumstances, arrives at Digitaria where they bond with Matalusa. Other key players include Digitaria leader Memory (Eliane Umuhire), techno warrior Elohel (Rebecca Mucyo), and Memory's soldier brother, Innocent (Dorcy Rugamba), whose unannounced arrival risks exposing the secret society to surveillance and even destruction.
This is the kind of film where outfits change themselves--Neptune's red dress changes to a metallic sheath when they enter Digitaria--and the distinction between dreams and waking life can be difficult to discern. It's a trippy experience, enhanced by poetic dialogue and a score that combines Afropunk with jazz flourishes and electronic textures (Fader has released it on CD).
While watching Neptune Frost, it's as easy to lose the thread of the dense narrative as it is to lose oneself in the makeup effects by Tanya Melendez and the costume and production design by Cedric Mizero, all of which have a tactile, handmade feel (Mizero makes inventive use of wires, cables, and other discarded computer detritus). Unlike most contemporary science fiction films, digital effects have been kept to a minimum, other than in a few animated fantasy sequences involving Neptune.
With their first film, funded through a successful Kickstarter campaign, Williams and Uzeyman have bypassed conventional storytelling for an aesthetically unique plea on behalf of the invisible individuals who make our wired world possible, workers who deserve humane working conditions and access to technology as a means of liberation rather than repression.
What type of library programming could use this title?
Library programming on Afrofuturism and nontraditional musicals could make productive use of Neptune Frost.
What academic subjects would this film be suitable for?
Neptune Frost would fit perfectly in film studies courses on Afrofuturism, along with higher-profile examples, like Marvel's Black Panther.
What kind of film series would this narrative fit in?
A film series on Afrofuturism and 21st-century African cinema would find a prime example in Neptune Frost.