IT'S ONLY 68 minutes long, but in that stretch of time, Dahomey crosses continents, considers the ongoing effects of colonialism from multiple angles, and moves from the metaphysical to the mundane. Mati Diop's second feature film shares elements, interests, and a distinctive restlessness with her 2019 debut, Atlantics-a supernatural Dakar-set romance about desperate young men who can see a better future for themselves only across the ocean-though it falls, however unconventionally, within the realm of documentary. It's only appropriate that a filmmaker so focused on interrogating how seldom borders actually circumscribe the people, history, and cultures they are meant to contain would herself make a work that transcends genre.
DAHOMEY DIRECTED BY MATI DIOP MUBI, NR.
Dahomey is nonfiction, observing the November 2021 return of 26 royal artifacts that had been looted from the kingdom of Dahomey by the French in 1892 and that are being repatriated to the present-day country of Benin. But among the voices included
like a dense, avant-garde essay onscreen.
The camera, almost always still, captures odd moments of humanity, whether that's a guard noodling on a phone while walking the grounds of the Palais de la Marina in Cotonou at night or a student dozing off during a debate sequence.
Esta historia es de la edición November 04-17, 2024 de New York magazine.
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Esta historia es de la edición November 04-17, 2024 de New York magazine.
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THE BEST ART SHOWS OF THE YEAR
IN NOVEMBER, Sotheby's made history when it sold for a million bucks a painting made by artificial intelligence. Ai-Da, \"the first humanoid robot artist to have an artwork auctioned by a major auction house,\" created a portrait of Alan Turing that resembles nothing more than a bad Francis Bacon rip-off. Still, the auction house described the sale as \"a new frontier in the global art market.\"
THE BIGGEST PODCAST MOMENTS OF THE YEAR
A STRANGE THING happened with podcasts in 2024: The industry was repeatedly thrust into the spotlight owing to a preponderance of head-turning events and a presidential-election cycle that radically foregrounded the medium's consequential nature. To reflect this, we've carved out a list of ten big moments from the year as refracted through podcasting.
THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR
THE YEAR IN CULTURE - BEST BOOKS
THE BEST THEATER OF THE YEAR
IT'S BEEN a year of successful straight plays, even measured by a metric at which they usually do poorly: ticket sales. Partially that's owed to Hollywood stars: Jeremy Strong, Jim Parsons, Rachel Zegler, Rachel McAdams (to my mind, the most compelling).
THE BEST ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
2024 WAS one big stress test that presented artists with a choice: Face uncomfortable realities or serve distractions to the audience. Pop music turned inward while hip-hop weathered court cases and incalculable losses. Country struggled to reconcile conservative interests with a much wider base of artists. But the year's best music offered a reprieve.
THE BEST TELEVISION OF THE YEAR
IT WAS SURPRISING how much 2024 felt like an uneventful wake for the Peak TV era. There was still great television, but there was much more mid or meh television and far fewer moments when a critical mass of viewers seemed equally excited about the same series.
THE BEST COMEDY SPECIALS OF THE YEAR
THE YEAR IN CULTURE - COMEDY SPECIALS
THE BEST MOVIES OF THE YEAR
PEOPLE LOVED Megalopolis, hated it, puzzled over it, clipped it into memes, and tried to astroturf it into a camp classic, but, most important, they cared about it even though it featured none of the qualities you'd expect of a breakthrough work in these noisy times.
A Truly Great Time
This was the year our city's new restaurants loosened up.
The Art of the Well-Stuffed Stocking
THE CHRISTMAS ENTHUSIASTS on the Strategist team gathered to discuss the oversize socks they drape on their couches and what they put inside them.
