A One Mann’s Movies review of “My Father’s Shadow” (From the 2025 London Film Festival). (2025, 4*, ’12A’).
In “My Father’s Shadow”, we are dunked into the chaos of the June 1993 elections in Nigeria, the first since the military coup in 1983. The film has a few faults. But it’s yet another example of a superb piece of filmmaking that deserves to be seen by a broad audience in the UK (but sadly, in all probability, won’t be). However, it is a MUBI film, so you should at least be able to stream it on that platform soon,
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
Two young brothers join their estranged father on a business trip to Lagos during a time of political and social unrest.
Certification:
UK: 12A; US: NR. (From the BBFC web site: “Moderate threat.”)
Talent:
Starring: Sope Dirisu, Godwin Egbo, Chibuike Marvelous Egbo, Efòn Wini, Tosin Adeyemi, Adesina McCoy Babalola, Lawrence Chu.
Directed by: Akinola Davies.
Written by: Akinola Davies & Wale Davies.
Running Time: 1h 34m.
Summary:
Positives:
- A memorable presentation of movie-moments that really hit an emotional chord.
- Excellent performances from the two young boys.
- Great cinematography and great use of music.
Negatives:
- The subtitles were often necessary!
- A few of the scenes really didn’t work.
Full Review of “My Father’s Shadow”:
A real treat.
This was a treat of a film in the end, but in the beginning I wasn’t quite so sure. The director lingered on far too many rather uninteresting arty shots of nature and buildings before the action got goings. I thought “uh, oh… this one’s going to be too arty for my liking”! But I needn’t have worried. We get some establishing scenes of the two brothers – Remi, 11, and Aki, 8 – occupying themselves on the porch of their village house, playing ‘Wrestlemania’ with paper cut-outs of characters they’ve made: needs must when you live a poor life in rural Nigeria. But the banter is what you would naturally expect from any two competitive brothers anywhere in the world.
Then we meet their father (Sope Dirisu… I know him best from “Mr Malcolm’s List“) and the pace picks up nicely. We go on a half-arsed road trip with the boys into Lagos and there the arty-inserts become really engaging and interesting. Scenes showing the colour and vibrancy of the markets are interspersed with ominous scenes of armed soldiers in trucks.
The political chaos is neatly reflected by the screenplay, with petrol shortages at the pumps, electrical blackouts and banking issues. All this while the radio chirps that rumours about petrol shortages, electricity blackouts and banking issues are just “fake news” spread by the opposition. Pertinent indeed to social media channels, particularly in the US, today.
Comedic moments.
For a film that has a lot of drama and grit, the script also drops in some much needed comedy from time to time. The bickering of the two boys is entertaining. And some of their questions about Lagos, aimed at their father, also generate comedy. They see a team of Polo horses being led along the street. When Remi asks if Polo is like tennis, Folarin replies “No… it’s more like football… riding a horse… holding a stick”.
An emotional rollercoaster.
As the film develops we learn more about the father and what he’s been up to during his absence from the village. And it’s not all good. Some of this history is carried with the subtlest of glances between Folarin and a waitress, Abike (Uzoamaka Power). In other scenes, the stress of seeing army personnel triggers nosebleeds for reasons that we don’t understand.
All of this is seen through the eyes of the two sons who partly see him as an idol of theirs, but who are also not blind to his serious flaws. They see how his absence from the village is hurting their hard-working mother. It’s a genuine rollercoaster of emotions in their eyes. Folarin tries to defend himself. “Everything is sacrifice…”, he says, “… You just pray you don’t sacrifice the wrong things”.
Nothing quite prepares you for the finale of the film though. A twist that you really don’t see coming and which is not in the least bit explained. Was the whole thing real at all? Was it all a dream or a fantasy of one of the boys? I really don’t know.
Some fabulous cinematography and music.
Some of the cinematography by Jermaine Edwards is breathtakingly good. In a scene with a TV broadcast resulting in uproar, the camera ducks and weaves around the throng, never missing its focus on the key players. And in the numerous night time scenes, the lighting is all spot-on.
One particularly impressive scene is when we arrive on a beach. Our three amigos emerge from behind the rusting hulk of an old shipwreck and the contrast of this, the brilliant white sand and the characters in the foreground performing some sort of ceremony on the beach is a real “Wow!” moment.
Also worthy of praise is the music by CJ Mirra and Duval Timothy which is at times upbeat and melodic and at others atonal and sinister. It really makes the film.
Subtitles are useful.
This was an “Audio Described” screening at the BFI, so the subtitles showed all of the dialogue as well as sound effects, music cues, etc. I would find it interesting to know what a “normal” showing would look like and what would be subtitled and what wouldn’t be. For some of the dialect is so strong, particularly for the young boys at the beginning of the film, that I might really have struggled to understand their English if not subtitled.
That’s not to take anything away from the performances of both Chibuike Marvelous Egbo as Remi and Godwin Egbo as Aki, both real-life brothers in their debut performances. They are both note perfect. Bravo kids!
Whale meat again?
Although this was one of the best LFF films I’ve so far seen, it was not without a few rough edges. The pace of the film sags a bit in the middle section, as the team have to kick around Lagos until the evening. And a scene with a beached whale – with locals hacking away at it with machete’s for meat – looks incredibly false and completely took me out of the film. It was so unnecessary.
At 94 minutes, it certainly doesn’t outstay its welcome, but a nip and a tuck here and there to bring it down to 88-minutes would have been my choice.
Summary Thoughts:
This is the feature debut of Akinola Davies and very good it was too. Although the end-title music didn’t really cater for an ovation, this is one that got a round of applause from the press crew afterwards. Well worth seeking out on MUBI if it doesn’t get a broader cinematic release.
Tickets for the London Film Festival showings on 17th and 18th October are currently sold out, but here is the booking web site to check for returns or other showings.
Where to watch?
Trailer:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoiVcFxcpak&pp=0gcJCfwAo7VqN5tD.
Subscribe
Don’t forget, you can subscribe to One Mann’s Movies to receive future reviews by email right here. No salesman will call!
