Will Niava’s short film Jazz Infernal is an exploration of legacy and how one’s roots can become a burden. Something that holds you down and even cripples your ability to move forward. From the very first frame, the film establishes the debilitating fear experienced by Ange Eric N’Guessan’s Koffi. When he arrives in a strange new land with an uncertain future, people greet him with immediate hostility. From immigration officers who view him with suspicion to the aunt he is supposed to stay with, Koffi finds himself in an environment that seems determined to make his arrival as difficult as possible.
Yet the aunt is perhaps a more complicated character than she initially appears. Her borderline psychotic behaviour over the phone offers little reassurance. Even if she comes across as a mean-spirited bully, her behaviour also hints at the frustrations of someone navigating the immigrant experience herself. She is possibly juggling multiple jobs just to survive, with little time left for dreams, passions or even empathy. It is a bleak existence, and one that Koffi might already be destined to inherit.
Koffi is a young trumpeter carrying the weight of his father’s legacy as a legendary jazz musician. His eventful first night in the country sees him trying to escape his past. Along with the expectations attached to his family name. He eventually finds himself spending time with two strangers (Alexis Belhumeur and Kalombo Kasongo). They could have easily turned a surreal night out with these characters into a sequence of comedic hijinks. Instead, director Will Niava uses the encounter to explore internalised grief, and the complicated relationship between a son and his father’s legacy. He does this while also paying tribute to his own father. Given his multicultural background and experience as an African filmmaker living in Quebec, it is tempting to read autobiographical elements into the story.
Niava also demonstrates an astute understanding of race and power. Particularly the vulnerability of being on the receiving end of harassment. These observations build on themes he previously explored in his short film Zoo. This film offers him another opportunity to examine the uneasy realities of navigating an unfamiliar society.
The jazz elements are central to the film’s emotional identity. Keeping the music front and centre gives the story a wonderful emotional texture, making its eventual payoff even more affecting. The score by Montreal jazz artist Hichem Khalfa is dynamic, providing the film with a strong sense of structure while allowing the narrative to flow naturally.
Coming to a new country offers Koffi the possibility of shedding his past and escaping the burden of his father’s legacy. Yet the film also gives him opportunities to embrace and revel in that very inheritance. It is this tension between wanting to escape one’s roots and recognising the importance of where one comes from that gives Niava’s short its emotional resonance.
