RUHORAHOZA ATTEMPTS TO DECONSTRUCT WHAT A FILM MUST DO IN FAVOR OF WHAT A FILM CAN BE.
Am I afraid of winning the “Most Pretentious Film Award”? Yes, a little. But, damn, it feels good to work on my terms, says Kivu Ruhorahoza in reference to his latest project Things of the Aimless Wanderer (2015). An inclination towards auteurism is also present in Matière Grise (2011), the feature that marked Ruhorahoza’s international directorial and screenwriting debut, garnering a special jury mention at the Tribeca Film Festival.
A film within a film, Matière Grise follows Balthazar (Hervé Kimenyi), a creator seeking financing for his film. The hurdles in Balthazar’s journey include random incompetence and a state committee quick to extol the virtue of supporting local cinema but unwilling to fund projects that do not promote its program. Willful, Balthazar determines that with or without funding the show must go on.
Balthazar’s film, a two-part act entitled ‘The Cycle of the Cockroach’, makes up the interior plot. In it, an unnamed madman (excellently carried by JP Uwayezu), and siblings Justine (Ruth Nirere Shanel) and Yvan (Ramadhan “Shami” Bizimana) manage unique psychological loads borne of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis.
Ruhorahoza’s story and style are in the picture; dialogue is sparse. What results is a meditative plot that indulges character exploration, sometimes at the expense of tension.
Symbols being rife in Matière Grise, one wonders how an audience less familiar with Rwandan history fares with the film. But, much is universal: audiophiles will delight in Sophie Nzayisenga’s music (well-featured if somewhat underutilized), cinephiles will recognize Balthazar’s mentions and references to David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (1986) and Gaspar Noé’s Irreversible (2002), and the themes surfaced in the film (trauma, mental health, women’s sexualization) will be familiar to many.
In a wider view, Matière Grise meditates on the artistic struggle. Balthazar and Yvan create to heal while Ruhorahoza deconstructs what a film must do in favor of what a film can be.
Agatoni 