Air Conditioner Film Difficulty Ranking: 3
Why Watch Air Conditioner?
- If you’re looking for an urban mystery
- For a tour of Luanda
- Because of it’s dry humor
From: Angola, Africa Watch: Trailer, IMDb Next: The Magic Gloves, The River, The Burial of Kojo
An Urban Mystery
In the opening of the film, the radio informs us of a mysterious occurrence happening across the city: the air conditioners are falling from buildings across the city. As the radio hosts speak, Zezinha, a house maid, receives a call from her boss, who demands that she repairs their broken air conditioner as soon as possible. So she passes on his demands to Matacedo, the security guard downstairs who goes on an odd-ball quest around the city to find the missing air conditioner and return it repaired to their boss.
Tour of Luanda
As Matacedo searches for the AC unit, we get a tour of the city. We follow him as he walks down alleys and into hidden shops and wait with him as he plays checkers with neighbors and cooks and eats lunch. We also hear the sounds of the city, in a rapper practicing on a roof, and the conversation on the streets. Matacedo is not in any particular hurry, so we’re presented with the city as if we’re also strolling around and absorbing the city’s atmosphere. Plus, as a bonus, Fradique, the director, also includes black and white pictures of the city in the intro credits to further build the character of Luanda. Air Conditioner is a great odd-ball virtual introduction to the city.
Dry Humor
The dry humor complements the mysterious odd-ball city tour. Just like the characters in Tsai Ming-liang’s The River or Martin Rejtman’s The Magic Gloves, Matacedo wanders the city and lets himself be humorously guided by it. There’s the pieces of everyday slapstick – such as getting stuck behind a slow old men whilst carrying a heavy item up the stairs, and the silent conversations between Matacedo and his friends – subtitled as if they’re communicating with expressions. (Just as in The River, the characters reveal more in their silent expressions than in their words).
Fradique also parodies the lack of action of the movie in a few slow motion shots of Matacedo walking around the city as if he’s on an important mission. They’re followed by slow motion shots of Matacedo falling into an afternoon siesta, parodying the hero. It’s this self-reflective dry humor that makes Air Conditioner so enjoyable to watch.
What to Watch Next
For more dramas full of self-aware dry humor, check out Martin Rejtman’s films, such as The Magic Gloves and Rapado, as well as Tsai Ming-Liang’s The River.
You could also check out similarly uniquely stylish African films such as The Burial Kojo from Ghana, and Zerzura from Mali.
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