Winner of the FIPRESCI Critics Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1973, among other awards, Touki Bouki is widely considered a classic of world cinema, regularly appearing on lists like Sight & Sound's 100 Greatest Films Of All Time and Empire's 100 Best Films Of World Cinema.
Beyonce's not the first celebrity to celebrate it. Oscar-winning Martin Scorsese (The Departed) hailed Touki Bouki as "something else again… A cinematic poem made with a raw, wild energy… Touki Bouki explodes one image at a time." Touki Bouki was digitally restored as part of Scorsese's World Cinema Project.
More than 40 years after its release, it still has an 83% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with The New Yorker praising its "incisive and flamboyant" imagery; The Village Voice calling it "a cult film" and a "fanciful tale of mad love in the noonday sun"; It's Nice That claiming that it has "the most delicate sex scene ever"; and Basia Lewandowska Cummings calling it "one of my favourite films of all time" in Africa Is A Country.It just goes to show how much thought and effort goes into what Beyonce and Jay-Z do as artists. It must feel good to be a Senegalese at a time like this. If you want to know what Touki Bouki is all about, it is now available for streaming on Showmax. Don't miss out.https://youtu.be/xaWmfqrQjU4