Latest news with #Folarin
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘My Father's Shadow' Review: First Nigerian Film Selected For Competition Is A Moving Universal Story Of Fathers And Sons
It would be a historic and special moment just simply for the fact that Akinola Davies Jr.'s debut feature, My Father's Shadow, is the first film from Nigeria to be selected to play in the Cannes Film Festival, where it premiered Sunday in Un Certain Regard. That's a big deal, but the fact that it is also one of the most moving and universally relevant and emotional films of any in this year's fest makes its presence here especially powerful. On top of the extraordinary first film from Iraq, The President's Cake — also selected for Cannes this year (in Directors' Fortnight), and one that also lets us see the big city though the eyes of children — it is especially sweet to see two such accomplished films from first-time feature directors, both with Sundance connections. In this case it is Davies Jr.'s short film Lizard that won the Grand Prize for shorts at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and was BAFTA-nominated in 2021. It has led to this opportunity, and the semi-autobiographical film that came from the attention is the real deal. Co-written by Davies and his brother Wale Davies, the story follows Akin (Godwin Egbo) and Remi (Chibuike Marvellous Egbo), two young brothers played by real brothers — a casting that did not set out to require siblings. My Father's Shadow opens on scenes of them playing like kids you might find in any neighborhood in any country. But they are about to embark on a journey that will be a life-changing memory for the rest of their lives, no doubt. More from Deadline Cannes Film Festival 2025: Read All Of Deadline's Movie Reviews 'Bono: Stories Of Surrender': On Irish Fathers & Sons, Processing Family Tragedy & How A Need To Be Heard Propelled A Dublin Kid To Become One Of The World's Biggest Rock Stars Wes Anderson's 'The Phoenician Scheme' Scores 7½-Minute Ovation After Cannes Premiere, Leaving One Star In Tears It begins with their estranged father, Folarin (Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù), an imposing and charismatic man who comes back into their lives to take them for a bonding moment in the big city of Lagos. It is 1993, and Folarin is hopeful and excited for change in his country with a seminal election, one that could mean a turnaround for his own life and fortunes as well as the future of his boys. In fact, the people's candidate MKO wins in a landslide, but as the day goes on, the people and Folarin learn the election has been annulled by the military in charge, thrusting Nigeria deeper into dictatorship. This is the background for their visit as Folarin, despite his own problems, makes every effort to please his boys doing things they love whether at the beach or the amusement park. But the fact is all Akin and Remi really want is to be closer to their dad, even as they miss their mother, who is away. Despite the worry of being picked up for his opposition to the controlling government, this is a day for bonding between father and sons, a story about brotherhood, fatherhood, memory, absence, missed connections and hopes for a better life he wants to gift his sons. The unrest and protests around them as they traverse Lagos and then try to return to their home is unsettling, an idyllic day disrupted. Here is an advance clip from the film: What the Davies brothers have delivered in their script are snapshots of their own youth and relationship with their father, even as in real life it was their mother to whom they were especially close. The filmmaker, though, wanted this to be more focused on the male parent, and that is what we got in this haunting film that, though set in Nigeria, really could be anywhere, any family struggling to stay together against all odds. It is as relevant as it could possibly be, and Davies Jr. has given it heart and soul. With superb cinematography from Jermaine Edwards, the visual look here is almost poetic at times. Dìrísù, known for Gangs of London, the third season of Slow Horses and many other roles, is very fine as a man trying hard to be the father figure he somehow lost along the way. The two Egbo boys could not be more appealing or believable. They will break your heart. So will My Father's Shadow. Producers are Rachel Darvagel and Funmbi Osunbanwo. Title: My Father's ShadowFestival: Cannes (Un Certain Regard)Distributor: MubiDirector: Akinola Davies Wale Davies and Akinola Davies Jr. Cast: Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù , Godwin Egbo, Chibuike Marvellous EgboRunning time: 1 hr 35 mins Best of Deadline Sean 'Diddy' Combs Sex-Trafficking Trial Updates: Cassie Ventura's Testimony, $10M Hotel Settlement, Drugs, Violence, & The Feds 'Nine Perfect Strangers' Season 2 Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Come Out? Everything We Know About Ari Aster's 'Eddington' So Far
Time Out
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
My Father's Shadow
A bold new voice is born with this story of a dad and his two sons set over a single day in Nigeria as it teeters on the edge of a coup. Nigerian-British filmmaker Akinola Davies Jr taps into universal feelings – of wide-eyed childhood discovery, parental responsibility and a feeling of a world spinning out of control – and backdrops it with an immersive sense of controlled chaos. Written by the director and his older brother Wade and fuelled with their childhood memories, the result is touching, contemplative and unsettling – a film with the gentle impressionist gaze of Moonlight, the hard-scrabble edge of Bicycle Thieves, and a fourth-wall-breaking daring all of its own. My Father's Shadow is also coming-of-age story – an unusual one for focusing as much on its struggling but well-intentioned dad, Folarin (Gangs of London 's Sope Dirisu), striving to be a better man, as his two boys, 11-year-old Remi (Chibuike Marvellous Egbo) and eight-year-old Akin (Godwin Egbo). It's 1993 and Nigeria has gone to the polls to elect a new president. Folarin hopes it will be social democrat MKO Abiola, but as he travels with his sons into Lagos, word spreads of a spate of killings by a military regime looking to cling to power. The country is divided. Petrol is scarce. Tension throbs from the frame. 'Nigeria needs discipline,' mutters a passenger on their bus ride into the city, advocating for the jackbooted junta to come. Davies Jr's bold debut speaks with a murmur and beats like a drum Into this combustible mix, Folarin takes the two eager boys, hoping to claim the pay packet his employer has been denying him. Their split gazes sends cinematographer Jermaine Edwards's inquisitive camera off in different directions: the boys upwards to skies dotted with soaring birds; their dad to truckloads of passing soldiers with cold gazes and loaded rifles. A harrowing visit to the seaside, backdropped, in a dystopian touch, by a beached freighter, illustrates the fine balance between exposing the boys to the world and protecting them from it. The two young actors are both naturals as the boys bicker over their favourite WWE wrestlers, refuse to share ice-cream money and wrap their heads around the hubbub of the city. Dirisu is simmering and sensitive as a man who surfs the line between deadbeat dad and safe harbour. They're the heart of a film that sometimes speaks with a murmur and sometimes beats like a drum. There's been many movies made by Nollywood, the country's prodigious film industry, but somehow this is the first Nigerian movie to be selected to play at Cannes. On this evidence, the Davies brothers will be back.
