Atlantics (2019)
- Corey Bulloch
- Dec 4, 2019
- 4 min read
Updated: Jan 7, 2020
★★★★
Arranged to marry a rich man, young Ada is crushed when her true love goes missing at sea during a migration attempt, until a miracle reunites them
Classification: 12A
There's this tantalising folklore element to Atlantics, like its an old tale passed between sailors and old wives about a phenomenon no one can truly remember. History becomes legend, legend becomes myth and what was forgotten was lost to paraphrase a wise elf so when the mystical elements of the film emerge like a spectre from the shadow, it completely entraps you. Mati Diop's film does drag out and loses intrigue at times but it has an undeniable atmosphere of surreal beauty. Her feature directorial debut feeling both familiar and foreign in a dreamlike state, like you've been here before from a past life, but walking along these shores is an entirely new experience that can take your breath away, like deja vu for the soul.
It's in the worldbuilding as Diop's supernatural romance is built from the wonderful production design and cinematography capturing the industrial decay, generational loss and spiritual beauty of the film's aesthetic. Claire Mathon's camerawork blends realism and fantasy together in a way that doesn't have Atlantics feel like an out of reach dystopia but a living breathing place that can exist in our world. Set in Dakar, the capital of Senegal Diop and her production design teams capture this other side to the beauty of the city, focusing more on the poverty and the realities of the people who build it and dreamt of better lives. The supernatural elements of the film feedback into this realism and makes the husks of buildings and streets the characters interact with all the more striking. Atlantics's immersion works in how tangible everything feels, you feel the forgotten histories to every location, the faded spirits of men and women, everything is so lived-in and subtly teeming with soul.
Mati Diop delivers a visual treat of a film, serene and tranquil in execution with its grand themes of romance, justice, and how people and societies are built through fables the film refuses to submit to melodrama. Diop's control in her direction is exemplary and speaks to an exciting future for dramatic storytelling but Atlantics is such a celestial experience for the audience that it is easy to just drift into the waters and be submerged. However, there is a downside to this, as pieces of the narrative become lost in the haze, it's not boredom that breaks the flow of the film but that you have to consciously pull your attention back to what's happening. It's a love story, a ghost story and an ode to all loves that have been lost, and Atlantics focuses on the story of Ada and Souleiman alongside the aftermath of several workers dying at sea seeking a better future in an attempt to reach Spain. Ada who is betrothed to another man, a wealthier one but still loves Souleiman waits to learn whether he found new life abroad.
When word spreads that the workers perished at seas several other occurrences happen across Dakar such as arson, illness and possessions as if it were the wrath of angered spirit. The whole cast of Atlantics contributes to the audience's absorption especially Mame Bineta Sane as Ada who is able to convey so much through so little. Diop directs so much of love and spirituality in these performances, everything just blends into this milieu, the scene of Bineta Sane and Amadou Mbow dancing against mirror and neon gleams just radiating this extraordinary depiction of love. Atlantics is a film of how love transcends, that it is truly a bond of souls and that our existence is defined by so much more than a stream of physical events, luminous beings are we, not this crude matter to quote another wise elf creature. Its how music, cinematography and performance depict these connections beyond dialogue, there are no words that can ever properly define what love is and its power and Atlantics shows the freedom in submitting to this unknown which such clarity. The manner in which Diop depicts the supernatural threads of the film is so haunting with how it examines our true lack of knowledge and ignorance of the unknown. We all believe we understand how the world works through the arbitrary laws we set for ourselves by the mysteries of existence continue to defy us. The actors who perform the roles of the "ghosts" are a prime example of how Atlantics feels like a forgotten myth, to look into the eyes of those characters makes all the superficial tethers we have to our way of life feel meaningless.
Even with the incredible performances that keep the film grounded, the real star of the film and the core to what makes Atlantics such a euphoric cinematic experience is Fatima Al Qadiri. This musical score is supernatural in itself, these inexplicable emotions that Al Qadiri is able to envoke, the sense of longing, of grief, love, pain and passion to look beyond our own understandings. You can feel yourself standing at the edge of the existence as the synth echoes through your soul daring you to step forward, everything Diop wanting to convey in her film elevating to such impassioned heights. Al Qadiri's score does what Vangelis did for Blade Runner and what Phillip Glass did for Koyaanisqatsi, which is to create an auditory experience that feels like a universe in itself. It is a remarkable achievement that hooks the audience deeper into that artistic submersion but keeps the film burrowed in their mind long after it has finished.
Atlantics stays with you, on the surface level it is an amazing piece of work from Diop who manages to craft such soul-affirming beauty alongside her collaborators. Going beyond that It is a film that makes you want to rewatch it over and over, to uncover more of the hidden depth, just the score alone unlocks so much more to the visuals. Haunting but always beautiful, Atlantics may stumble at points but it feels more like a reflection to our own imperfections as Diop really delivers something that can envoke such existential grace.
Director: #MatiDiop
Release Date: November 29th 2019
Available to stream on Netflix
Trailer:
Written review copyright ©CoreyBullochReviews
Images from the Internet Movie Database, Synopsis from Netflix
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