While Aya has dreams of becoming a doctor, her two best friends, Adjoua and Bintou, just like to hang out and spend their evenings dancing, drinking and flirting with boys. Their ambition is to follow Plan C: Combs, Clothes and Chasing Men! But big trouble comes to town when Adjoua realizes she’s pregnant, and the baby’s father is the spoiled son of one of the richest and most feared men in the whole country.
Autochenille Production TF1 Droits Audiovisuels Sofica Valor 8 Canal+ Angoa-Agicoa La Région Île-de-France
Η Αγιά από το Γιοπουγκόν, Aya - Aventuras Num Mundo Inesperado, 아야의 밤엔 사랑이 필요해, 约普城的阿娅
USA
Colcoa French Film Festival
France
Ivory Coast
Portugal
South Korea
France
France
France
France
Ivory Coast
Portugal
South Korea
USA
One of the most appealing aspects of the “slice of life” films is how they employ a more laid back tone as they take their audience through the entertaining lives of everyday people with no real journey or goal needing to be accomplished. However, it’s not the easiest style of storytelling to get right, as the filmmakers must walk the line between being wonderfully aimless and utterly pointless. You want what happens in your film to be more relaxed and spontaneous, yet you want to ensure what’s going on is imbued with some sort of meaning or value. And unfortunately, this is something Aya of Yop City is unable to do. It shows us the lives of a variety of…
Got to love how the film was faithful to the graphic novel series' colorful aesthetic and the portrayal/social critique of their life in Yopougon, Côte d'Ivoire. The vintage live-action TV commercials and the music (one of my favorite soundtracks of the year) <3
U.S. American comics/graphic novels should focus more on developing animated (true to their artwork) film adaptations instead of live-action ones.
When you can't cry... you laugh!
Aya of Yop City, based on the comic of the same name, is a breezy, "light"-feeling comedy set in70s West Africa following a group of women while they try to improve their economic situation (i.e. their entire lives) and go through the day-to-day.
The main prospects that work in their society is finding a promising man to take care of them and elevate their status.
But relying on men can lead to all sorts of trouble and Aya of Yop City takes a comical approach to these women's journeys. And boy is this movie funny. There are set ups and jokes here that are satirical, absurd, and almost surrealist. The tone is light but…
A humorous and melodramatic slice of life taking place in 70s Cote d'Ivoire. The titular Aya acts more like a narrator than a lead character here, the stories told in this film feel a bit scattershot and there isn't much of a resolution but it's a quick, entertaining watch. The background animation is gorgeous too.
The vibe here is lovely. Just a bunch of teenage friends hanging out, living their lives. It's not exactly low stakes (a good portion of the movie centers around an unwanted pregnancy), but it doesn't try to extract every last drop of emotion from the audience either. The music is nice, and the animation is colorful and delightful. More than any other animated movie I can think of, Aya of Yop City features characters who all look distinct, but all belong to the same artistic vision. This attention to detail greatly works to the film's advantage with a late movie plotline about trying to find two characters who look alike.
The story, however, didn't work for me. It's just a…
The negative response must just be from people really impressed with the original story cause I liked a lot of this. I liked the art style and I like how Aya was smart and meant for more without really shaming her friends. The animation never really does anything outstanding but I think the character design is interesting and speaks for itself a lot of the time. I even think it’s funny when it wants to be, it’s a lot of somewhat cheesy observational stuff but it’s charming in its own right.
A great looking, but ultimately scattershot and shallow take on a beloved source material. Like so many animated films, it frustratingly attempts to add visual flair to narratives that neither collectively nor individually build to anything substantive.
One Popular Film Around The World Challenge Film #65
Ivory Coast
Even at times when it feels unfocused, Aya of Yop City is filled with interesting, bright, colorful, and charming characters and is a film that feels consistently funny. The slice-of-life structure of the film feels really comforting and I appreciated the original writer of the graphic novel and her intentions for becoming an author. And I thought the animation was lovely throughout, and Aya’s relationship with her friends was beautiful, even at its most chaotic.
“Not only are you ugly, but you found a way to reproduce!”
I watched this on a recommendation from Peter H and am very glad I did. It has the soft color tones that I like and an animation style that feels very cozy. The story gets a bit too soap-opera-ey for my tastes, but the characters are extremely well defined and the location/language a delight to observe. Makes me want to get back to learning French, honestly.
The expectations set for these characters are highly relatable despite the story taking place in a foreign and rather distant culture. Furthermore, there’s a deep lesson to contemplate here about how life goes on no matter our successes or failures. The meaning and value of our individual actions need to come from within, as externalities are largely uncontrollable. Don’t leave your happiness to chance!
MARCH AROUND THE WORLD 2022: Ivory Coast
I enjoyed the spirit of Aya of Pop City for the liveliness of the characters, city, and the vibrant color palette, but the meandering story didn't appeal to me. It's a fairly conventional romance story about young girls being raised in a male dominated society, as fathers desperately try and marry off their daughters into more substantial situations. It's all about the experience of growing up in West Africa and while I found the setting inviting, the actual story was never engaging enough to keep me involved in these characters' changes. The intercutting of old African commercials was a beautiful touch and you sense the filmmakers individuality in the craft but it all comes back to the story losing focus constantly and not exploring the themes enough.
Aya is a kitchen sink interlocking drama of families in this Abidjan suburb told from the the wise titular character. It’s sex, scandal and class giving a snapshot of this vibrant, developing city in the 70’s as the country finds itself in its new independence. The animation is straight from the graphic novel and is fantastic in its simplistic expression. I love the addition of archived Ivorian commercials that give you both some context but also an idealized presentation of society while the narrative shows the real desires of the average citizen.
