FLATLAND
Two young women try to escape their pasts with a dogged detective hot on their trail in this rollicking, feminist neo-Western set in the wide-open deserts of South Africa.
Clad in a blood-splattered bridal gown, virginal, mixed-race teenager Natalie (Nicole Fortuin) is on the lam after a wedding night from Hell. She seeks the help of her Afrikaner best friend, heavily pregnant wild child Poppie (Izel Bezuidenhout), and the two set out on horseback for the bright lights of Johannesburg. Along the way, they’re tracked by Captain Beauty Cuba (Faith Baloyi), a detective whose penchant for soap operas and velour tracksuits camouflages shrewd sleuthing skills and an impeccable nose for the truth. Beauty is convinced that the two runaways are the key to exonerating her fiancée, who’s been imprisoned for a murder she doesn’t believe he committed. Flatland brilliantly weaves together the stories of these three women, culminating in a thrilling showdown in which each is forced to tap into new sources of strength and solidarity. The third feature by promising filmmaker Jenna Bass offers an invigorating, consistently surprising take on familiar genres, lacing its copious thrills with a sharp skewering of the lingering race, gender, and class divisions of post-apartheid South Africa.
CAST: FAITH BALOYI, NICOLE FORTUIN, IZEL BEZUIDENHOUT, DE KLERK OELOFSE
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