Synopsis
A musician who had come from an uninspiring performance in an empty pub found himself late one evening on the last train to get to his home. His hopes of a peaceful late train ride are suddenly threatened by a passenger who asks him to play his guitar so he can accompany him with his mbira (Sub-Saharan African musical instrument similar to the xylophone).
A word from Tënk
As a beautifully crafted work of art with brilliant cinematic animation infused with original music from the filmmaker, The Last Train is an art piece special to behold. The filmmaker takes us through an ostensibly simple reimagination of a real-life experience, yet one which in reality is layered with a lot of emotional depth and subtexts. The filmmaker, who plays a fictionalized version of himself as the protagonist, encounters the stranger on the train who has the simplest and most innocent of requests – to play together. This request appears to be one of deeper significance.
The fact that the stranger is willing to miss his stop just to keep playing with our protagonist, the fact that the stranger was not going to take "no" for an answer that day, and most importantly, the fact that our protagonist never saw this stranger again – all these lead us to believe that this chance encounter never to be repeated, made an indelible mark in the lives of the stranger, the girl on the train and even our protagonist who went on the make a film about this experience.
Badewa Ajibade
Guest curator
