Sunday, September 19, 2021

Auteur Watch - Tamara Boakye Ansah

 Remember 2016?  Yeah, boy those were the days.  2016 was a pretty good year... at least, up until November.  It was also a pretty busy year for our next auteur, Tamara Boakye Ansah... I know, I know.  But remember, a) it takes a village to make a film, and b) the Second Unit or Assistant Directors have to do all the hard stuff.  You know, getting the more temperamental actors to come out of their trailers, cleaning up the bad messes in the kids' area and what not.  Sure, you see all those documentaries of the big directors running around and joking, but when the cameras start to roll, it's time to get serious, and the Assistant Directors are the lead ass-kickers.

As for Tamara in particular, well, The Crossing is of course the festival favourite.  I mean, look at that poster and all those... things on it!  You know, those festival things!  Five of them!  FIVE!  And yet, the film gets no traction.  It's the dramatic story about a man dealing with uncertainty about his future, but then he finds out he's been "permanently left behind."  Finally!  Some certainty!  The viewer is left to figure out the theological implications of the phrase.

The other title, as of this writing, is called Sleigh, and it's like if Half Baked had Santa Claus in it.  Whelp, every new generation has to put their own special spin on Cheech and Chong, I suppose.

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