MOAR Supa Action!!!!
July 27, 2015 3:22 PM   Subscribe

"Who Killed Captain Alex: Uganda's First Action Movie was produced, written, directed, shot, and edited by Nabwana IGG from his home in Wakaliga, Uganda. Made for under $200 - using real blood and a modified car jack for a tripod - the film became a sensation in the slums of Uganda while the trailer went viral in Europe, South America, and the US."

This release features a "video joker". Here's Vice on the concept, from "A Ugandan Filmmaker's Quest to Conquer the Planet with Low-Budget Action Movies":
After charging his laptop at a nearby hair salon, he showed me what he'd been working on for the past few weeks: adding a so-called VJ track to the English-language version of Who Killed Captain Alex. Any doubts I'd had about the film's comedic intent were firmly laid to rest by the track. In Uganda, VJ stands for "video jokers," a concept native to Ugandan cinema halls, the shacks where audiences gather to watch films and soccer on modestly sized TV sets. Many halls feature a video joker to talk over Western-language films with a mic that can cut out the main audio track. The VJ is translator, emcee, roaster, booster, and travel guide in one. Hofmanis compares VJ tracks to the title cards in the silent comedies of a century ago.

The video joker for Captain Alex is Emmie Bbatte. His track interrupts the film's audio like a berserk director's commentary. His observations exhort, mock, and implore the characters and viewer simultaneously. In slow scenes, Bbatte blurts: "Action is coming, I promise you!" "One hell of a movie!" "Now expect the unexpectable." When the action gets going, he howls in triumph: "Warrior!" "Commando!" "The movie's on!" "Movie! Movie! Movie!" Sometimes he chortles, or hiccups in a James Brown grunt. It is Mystery Science Theater 3000 as narrated by a man who sounds like he's on bath salts.
Via. Previously here and here.
posted by brundlefly (7 comments total) 24 users marked this as a favorite
 
This was all over Reddit about a year or so ago. Do yourself a favor and watch the different trailers on YouTube - they're awesome.
posted by MikeMc at 3:30 PM on July 27, 2015


Original Reddit thread, (gallery), update (gallery),AMA.
posted by MikeMc at 3:44 PM on July 27, 2015


Made for under $200 - using real blood and a modified car jack for a tripod

I watched the trailer, and I'm skeptical about the blood. The helicopter is the real deal tho.
posted by FatherDagon at 4:09 PM on July 27, 2015


According to the Vice article: "Making films for big audiences on minuscule budgets has forced Nabwana to develop some innovative techniques. His first ten action flicks, for example, used cow blood as a special effect. He switched to food coloring only after actors complained of stomachaches. One developed brucellosis, a nasty zoonotic bacterial disease, and spent a week of delirium in the hospital."

(There's obviously late period Robert Rodriguez-style CG blood as well.)
posted by brundlefly at 4:17 PM on July 27, 2015


I was introduced to the trailers for these movies two or three years ago, and would have made a post about them long ago, except the person who introduced me said he wanted to post them. Ah well, at least it made it to the Blue eventually.
posted by JHarris at 8:41 PM on July 27, 2015


I like this - this is the essence of pure entertainment.
posted by oceanjesse at 4:15 AM on July 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


MOVIE MOVIE! UGANDA MOVIE!
posted by blue t-shirt at 8:32 AM on July 28, 2015


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