“Rain the Color of Blue With a Little Red in It”

November 15, 2015 2:44 AM

"A revolutionary story of guitars, motorcycles, cell phones – and the music of a new generation” is how director Christopher Kirkley describes his West African re-imagining of Purple Rain. Set in the Saharan city of Agadez in Niger, Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai (Akounak for short) is a visually sumptuous and musically thrilling movie that works splendidly with or without the Purple Rain mythos. But riffing on Prince’s tale locates Purple Rain’s universal heartbeat

posted by infini (10 comments total)

This looks fantastic! I hope it gets good distribution, would love to get my hands on a copy. I suppose I could look for bootlegs next time I'm in the region.

The few "donc"s scattered in his speech before the song made me nostalgic. There is a radio game in Burkina Faso, I bet they do it in Niger, too, where to win a prize the caller has to speak for a certain amount of time, responding to questions without pausing, in their native language with NO French words mixed in. Few succeed. And "donc" is the downfall of a lot of callers.
posted by solotoro at 5:34 AM on November 15, 2015 [7 favorites]

The music. THE MUSIC.
posted by louche mustachio at 5:37 AM on November 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

I hope the film is released here.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:18 AM on November 15, 2015

MeFi's own, btw.
posted by mykescipark at 7:06 AM on November 15, 2015 [5 favorites]

Awesome! I saw a really wonderful band from Niger earlier this year, Tal National, and their guitar player (the guy in the blue embroidered shirt, and then spends a lot of time with his arm slung over the flute player's shoulder) was the largest-personalitied, most flamboyantly charismatic guy I've seen perform. And the music was great! Can't wait to see this; if nothing else I'm going to get my dad the soundtrack for Christmas.
posted by ChuraChura at 7:21 AM on November 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

MeFi's own, btw.

He'll be pleased to know that he wasn't the first to favourite it. only the second
posted by infini at 10:28 AM on November 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

The music in that clip is gorgeous! It hits me on a pure emotional level that I can't really describe. I hope I get a chance to see this.
posted by capricorn at 7:28 PM on November 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Saw this last night at the Amsterdam in St. Paul, MN. Loved the music, and it was fascinating the way plot points and cultural touchpoints translated and shifted, and peeking in into a culture I'm very unfamiliar with. It's far from an exact conversion. It's... less intense, overall? But well worth watching, and the ending is transcendent.
posted by Mark Redacted at 8:51 AM on November 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

I've been enjoying the blogging in sahelsounds - is that you writing about the making of, mefi's own?
posted by infini at 10:15 AM on November 16, 2015

I saw it at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin last week. I knew the music would be great, but I was surprised by how beautifully it was shot, also by how affecting the naturalistic acting was. Very mellow, and an interesting contrast with the super affected and strange performances in Purple Rain.
posted by stirred for a bird at 12:47 PM on November 16, 2015