JOHN GREEN, MARIA DUARTE and LEO BOIX review The Shepherd and the Bear, Hamlet, Twinless, and 100 Nights of Hero
Once upon a time in Lagos
MARIA DUARTE recommends an extraordinary film that explores an absent father’s attempt to make up to his sons
MESMERISING: Sope Dirisu as Folarin with Chibuike Marvelous Egbo and Godwin Egbo [Pic: IMDb]
GEOFF BOTTOMS applauds a version set amid the violent conflicts of the 19th century west African Oyo empire before the intervention of British colonialism
GILL PARSONS introduces the remarkable process by which her childhood experience of a convalescent home has become a new drama
SEAMUS HIGGINS introduces some basic facts about the role of sugar in driving a worldwide crisis of diet-related diseases
Japanese innovation, Costa Rican skullduggery, Glasgow Central suicide, and good deeds punished in London
My Father’s Shadow (12A)
Directed by Akinola Davies Jr.
★★★★☆
SET against the political backdrop of the 1993 presidential elections in Nigeria, this beautiful and haunting drama about a father’s magical day with his sons is an extraordinary and unforgettable directorial debut feature by Akinola Davies Jr.
Inspired by his own childhood experience, Akinola wrote the film with his brother Wale Davies. It follows Folarin (Sope Dirisu) as he decides to take his two young sons with him to his work in Lagos. The boys travel from the quiet of their rural village home to the chaotic bustle of the city which is overrun by armed soldiers on election day.
Shot on 16mm in Lagos the film has a dreamlike, and almost ghostly quality about it as it examines grief and memory from a child’s perspective.
Unfolding over the course of a day, Folarin takes his kids to his workplace where he demands the four months wages that he is owed. He is asked to return in the evening and so he shows Remi and Akin (played by real life brothers Chibuike Marvelous Egbo and Godwin Egbo) around Lagos.
Akin confronts Folarin for being an absent dad and for the way he treats his mother. Folarin explains he has to work in Lagos to keep a roof over their heads. “Everything is sacrifice. You just have to pray you don’t sacrifice the wrong thing,” he tells his boys.
As he bonds with his sons in heartfelt scenes at the beach and the fairground, he appears like a ghostly figure suffering from unexplained nosebleeds which hint at his impending demise.
Sope Dirisu is mesmerising as the father, while newcomers Chibuike Marvelous and Godwin in their first ever film role are truly impressive and captivating as his sons. They hold their own opposite him, and Godwin has great comic timing and is adorable as the cheeky and joker Akin.
The film also depicts the political unrest and shows the hope of a nation expecting to vote out a military regime, and then having their hopes dashed as the election results are annulled amid claims of voting irregularities (sound familiar?).
By the end you wonder if you have been watching a ghost or a dream but what is certain is that Akinola Davies Jr is an exciting and unbelievable film-maker and I cannot wait to see what he does next.
In cinemas February 6
