“Neptune Frost”

(USA/Rwanda/France/Canada)

Metacritic (6/10), Rotten Tomatoes (***)

I would so liked to have given this ambitious indie offering a higher score, but, unfortunately, because of clarity conflicts between narrative and screenplay, I simply couldn’t. This Afrocentric musical fantasy with a multitude of themes protesting war, corporate greed, social intolerance and a host of other issues definitely has its heart in the right place, with inventive special effects and cutting-edge musical stylings. However, its attempt to express itself through cryptic poetic dialogue and soliloquies obscures its messages with its often-indecipherable prose. I sincerely applaud the attempt to push the envelope of the script, but, when the mixed metaphor wording becomes so irretrievably gnarled and vague, it’s difficult to figure out exactly what the screenwriter is seeking to say. Directors Anisia Uzeyman and Saul Williams are clearly on to something here, but they need to clean it up a bit to make the material more coherent and accessible, most notably with writing that’s on par with the superb quality of everything else this innovative release has to offer.