Today

American musician/slam poet Saul Williams stars in this dreamlike fable of one man’s last day on earth, as prescribed by fate. Awaking alone, Satché (Williams) leaves his room to discover most of his family, friends, and neighborhood elders gathered outside, all echoing a strange message: You have been chosen to die, and today is your last day on earth. Stunned and uncertain, he spends his time walking the streets, meeting friends and lovers, passing by street riots, practicing his death ceremony, bonding with his children and wife. Director Alain Gomis paces each scene like an inescapable dream, fueled by existential nightmares part Sartre or Ionesco, yet also strangely comforting: it’s death as a tropical breeze, or a slow downbeat song. “I want to create suspense with simple moments,” he notes, “to open the time as in a magical moment.” The stunning Today is “a metaphysical film, of rare sensorial power” (Le monde).