I Am Not a Witch (2017) poster
2017 · drama · comedy

I Am Not a Witch

Directed by Rungano Nyoni1h 33m2017
ElsewhereIMDb6.94kRT98%Metacritic80TMDB6.7136
  • sombre
  • measured
  • inventive
  • bleak
Movie DNA

Sombre, measured, measured drama / comedy, inventive in texture. Nihilistic, intimate, cold, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.

How every film is hand-scored →

Convicted of witchcraft, 8-year-old Shula is brought to live in a penal colony where witches do hard labour in service of the government.

Our read · I Am Not a Witch (2017) reads as a sombre, measured, inventive drama · comedy entry — measured in intensity, intimate in scope, cold in temperature, nihilistic in outlook, with a strong directorial signature. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.

Where the cast leads
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The shape of I Am Not a Witch

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

You want a sharp satirical drama about a Zambian girl accused of witchcraft and exploited.

ends bittersweetit stays with youmeditativegrips by minute 14attention 4/5earns its lengthsubtitles: partial
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around
Heads-upchild peril

Skip it tonightSkip if child exploitation by superstition and community cruelty will haunt or anger you.

DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
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