Review of Marianne - NO GLOSS FILM FESTIVAL 2016

Equally evocative is Tomisin Adepeju’s Marianne, which draws on Adepeju’s experiences in the African church to tell the story of a Nigerian man (Tobi Bakare) who travels to a remote Pentecostal church with his ailing wife (Vivienne Bell) in search of a miraculous cure. Adepeju’s decision to shoot Marianne on Super 16mm lends it the warmth that only celluloid is able to engender while retaining a gritty edge. Adepeju’s energetic, intuitive framing comes to the fore during the scene in which Marianne is ‘prayed on’. Marianne is an elliptical, elegiac reflection on the power of faith and the depths of devotion.

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