“The River” ponders whether you can go home again, particularly if you’ve never been there. When Alfa (French rapper Stomy Bugsy) kills his drug-dealer boss in retaliation for a friend’s death, his brother cryptically suggests he leave Paris and “go toward the river.” Accompanied by sassy Senegalese cousin Marie (Auriele Coulibay), he embarks on a road trip back to his disdained African roots. Pic possesses a picaresque charm, plus feisty persona of Marie. But Bugsy is so unflaggingly morose, it’s hard to understand what Marie sees in him. Pic, yet to find a distrib in France, stands little chance in the U.S.
Acting
Aurélie Coulibaly's Marie—sassy, alive, carrying the whole film on her shoulders.
Writing
The cryptic 'river' as both literal destination and metaphorical escape.
Director
Mama Keïta
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Mama Keïta, born in Guinea and based in France, made this as part of a loose trilogy exploring African diaspora identity—yet it remains frustratingly unseen even in France.
Stomy Bugsy was a massive French rap star; casting him as a near-mute depressive was deliberate counter-casting that critics found either brave or self-sabotaging.
FR
