Thanks to the Toronto International Film Festival, I got to watch the Night Of The Kings movie before its initial release, and I am super excited to share my initial thoughts.
Night Of The Kings is drama film, directed by Philippe Lacôte and released in 2020. The film is a coproduction of companies from France, Côte d’Ivoire, Canada and Senegal. It was selected as the Ivorian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards.
Night Of The Kings is about a young man who is sent to “La Maca”, a prison of Ivory Coast in the middle of the forest ruled by its prisoners. With the red moon rising, he is designated by the Boss to be the new “Roman” and must tell a story to the other prisoners.
Here Are 45 Thoughts I Had While Watching The Night Of The Kings Movie
1. Today’s question is can I enjoy this even though it’s in French and I have to read the entire thing? I usually hate subtitles.
2. He doesn’t look like a criminal. I wonder what he did?
3. He tryna be gangsta with a health problem? That’s hilarious.
4. I don’t mind reading or listening to them speak.
5. This is how they greet new prisoners?
6. Mens prison, woman walks by, and no one looks? This definitely ain’t America.
7. Damn, it’s just a book of thumbprints?
8. Wait! So they just tell them to go back to their cell and that works?
9. Are these dudes in prison seriously having a dance party right now? OMG!
10. Ohhhhhhhh, wow! I really thought that was a girl! It’s a gay man? Okay!
11. This is disgusting! They really made him strip?
12. Son! They really have way too much freedom! They out here running around and riding backs?
13. They’re praising him and he’s so damn scared and confused! Me to sir, me too.
14. They just made him the storyteller? That’s it? My mans scared for his life and all he gotta do in jail is tell some damn stories??
15. This is actually a really good movie.
16. Thinking about how they have to get ALL these people together to act out these scenes!
17. All this for a story though? I mean I can see why stories from the outside world would be so important in prison, but still!
18. It musta been hard to shoot all these people.
19. Everyone has a role to play. I like that.
20. They literally gave him a box to stand on! I can not!
21. I’ve never seen a man so scared to tell a story in my life.
22. He used that to test the crowd? He’s a smart kid.
23. What’s with the damn singer?
24. They’re really good actors.
25. This is a well written story, I love it. No real trauma, no dramatics, just a story. We need more movies like this.
26. Wait, did they really just take a dinner break?
27. Why would he go there!
28. Damn it! I knew there was a catch! This was too good to be true.
29. How is he sleeping right now? Isn’t he supposed to be storytelling?
30. Only one white man in this whole story? (And I am not complaining!)
31. Aight dinner done! Back to the story! Everybody done eat and tings, watch here nuh! Lord my accent is coming out.
32. They really gotta act all this ish out? Lord!
33. Wait is he making this ish up now? He gotta be making this story up! This is wild!
34. Pause … what if someone knows Zama and knows he’s lying?
35. The way his skin glistens, aw man, just beautiful.
36. Wow! Did he really just say he wants to kill one last time before he dies????
37. Why doesn’t anyone try to kill him though? He’s sick, shouldn’t that be super easy to do?
38. Can they not!! I wanna hear the damn story and folks keep interrupting! Stop! Go away. Be quiet! Let him speak!
39. Where did these damn animals come from?? WDF is going on??
40. This fight (without actually fighting) is dope! Plus the magic part is so good. It feels like one of Aesop’s Fables.
41. But why they had armies and didn’t even need them!?
42. Men love to waste bullets like they don’t cost money.
43. Why’s it called night of the kings though? They’re prisoners.
44. Okay that was a weird ending but this was still a good movie. It’s really good storytelling.
45. I don’t know how I’d feel about watching this in theaters, but I did enjoy watching it. We don’t always need a whole lot to really enjoy a movie. This was totally worth the watch. I could see this on Netflix or another streaming platform.
A full review of the Night Of The Kings movie will be up soon, but until then here are my favorite quotes from the film.
I came straight here when I saw on your story that you…