NYFF 2020: Night of the Kings Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s New York Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

Night of the Kings is a celebration of storytelling set in a prison hellhole that weaves together history and mythology to hold the viewers’ attention. It’s a take on 1001 Nights by way of the Ivory Coast. But the story told is fascinating. The results are mixed, but it’s a decent effort. The story centers on a young criminal named Roman (Koné) who arrives at the MACA prison in the Ivorian capital Abidjan. When a blood red moon rises, the dying prison gang leader Black Beard (Tientcheu) conscripts the new prisoner to be the new “Roman” or storyteller. Roman must tell a story all night or suffer the consequences.

Night of the Kings holds itself together largely because the story Roman tells about a friend who became a legendary criminal leader is so riveting. The biggest idea it has going for it is the power of telling a story. There’s magic in stories and the film capitalizes on that magic. There just not much more to the film than that. It’s a decently entertaining watch that flows by easily. In general, it doesn’t ingrain itself outside its run time. Nevertheless, the film has been selected as the Ivory Coast’s entry for Best International Feature at the 2021 Academy Awards.

Either way, Night of the Kings consistently holds the viewer’s attention across its running time. The story within a story is certainly interesting. Maybe, in such an awful year like 2020, recognizing the ability of a good story to elicit some kind of emotional response from the people who hear it is enough. After all, as African director Djibril Diop Mambéty said “Cinema is magic in the service of dreams.”

still courtesy of NYFF

If you wish to follow more of my work, I can be found on Twitter and on Letterboxd.

If you liked this, please read our other reviews here and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter or Instagram or like us on Facebook.

Guest Writer