Umshini Wam (Bring Me My Machine Gun), a short film directed by Kids writer, Harmony Korine, and starring Die Antwoord’s Ninja and Yo-Landi premiered today at the SXSW festival in Texas.
The premise: Ninja and Yolandi are wheelchair-bound,dirt poor gangsters, intent on gaining more street cred by upgrading their wheelchairs for higher-end models.
Mostly I felt like I spent fifteen minutes of my life watching Yo-Landi and Ninja shoot Uzis at bushes, and beat piles of rubbish with sticks while moaning in the fashion of a five year-old at a tile factory shop on a hot, hot day.
Do you have to like it because people say it’s good? No.
Is it made by a number of people who have recieved critical acclaim for their previous work, and may yet receive critical acclaim for this short film? Yes.
Does it have a message? Probably. I am open to interpretations from the hoards of insightful people beating down my email door.
Am I missing the point? I may well be.
Was I moved, emotionally? No.
Were there parts that I enjoyed? Most definitely. Namely:
- The personalised wheelchair number plates, one of which was “Wat Kyk Jy – GP”, undoubtedly a shout out to Griffin over at WatKykJy.co.za, who is closely associated with the group.
- The oversized Zippo lighter, the parody of a spliff, and Ninja’s accompanying deadpan expression.
- Ninja’s one-liner at the end of the film, exhorting Yo-Landi to sleep because “it’s doo-doos” was particularly great.
Bear in mind that Yo-Landi turned down an offer to play the lead role in David Fincher’s film adaption of Stieg Larsson’s Girl With The Dragon Tatoo.
