‘The Story of Souleymane’ Review: A Superb Lead Electrifies a Propulsive, Compassionate Immigration Drama
25.05.2024 - 13:43
/ variety.com
Jessica Kiang It’s not only because of its similar time frame that Boris Lojkine‘s hurtling, headlong social-issues drama “The Story of Souleymane” recalls “Two Days, One Night” by the Dardenne brothers. Lojkine’s film, which was awarded the jury prize and a well-deserved best actor award in the Un Certain Regard competition in Cannes, is similarly invested in its electrifying lead — non-professional Abou Sangare, making an unforgettably persuasive and poignant debut — and similarly effective in maintaining a level of urgency and high-stakes personal peril that few genre thrillers can muster.
If the hero’s dire situation is a ticking clock, Lojkine’s intelligent and empathetic film places us right alongside him, with each cog of circumstance and each gear of good fortune grinding against him at every turn. Souleymane (Sangare) is a recent arrival in Paris from Guinea, who sleeps in homeless shelters at night and works as a delivery biker by day using a “borrowed” account for which he pays a hefty cut of his earnings to the real owner, Emmanuel (Emmanuel Yovanie).
It is a hard, physically demanding existence, lived in the teeth of a daily litany of deadlines, not only the countdowns on the constantly-dinging app, but metro timetables, documentation appointments and the unforgiving bus schedule. And that’s just on a good day when he hasn’t had to scoot across town to find Emmanuel to face-verify one of the app’s random authentication checks.
Still, even within his unenvied community of fellow asylum-seekers and unhoused strivers, Souleymane — good-natured, hardworking and handsome — has made an impression. “Souleymane of Paris!” his friends call out as he whizzes past them on the street, like he’s an aristocrat touring
.
The website popstar.one is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can
send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.