Stanley Kubrick oddly said that he thought The Shining was a happy movie because any ghost story implies the existence of an afterlife, which is an inherently hopeful view of death. Although it’s hard to fully agree with that sentiment as it relates to The Shining, there is some truth to ghost stories being happy tales.
While My Father’s Shadow, the first feature length film from director Akinola Davies Jr. is not explicitly a ghost story, it does contain heavy undertones of ghostly elements. And is similarly happy and hopeful in its content.
The film, which follows two young boys as they spend a day exploring the vibrant (and slightly overwhelming) city of Lagos with their father, is a heartfelt and haunting tale about family, politics, and the cross-section between the two.
The merging of the macro and micro is central to the story and emotional core of My Father’s Shadow. Young Aki and Remi (played by real-life brothers Godwin Egbo and Chibuike Marvelous Egbo) are forced to confront fairly lofty ideas about their father, each other, life, and Nigeria’s future. Luckily, they have the guidance of their father, Folarin AKA “Kapo” (Sope Dirisu) to shepherd them through it all.
Dirisu’s performance is absolutely brilliant. He has the presence to create a larger than life character whose charisma bursts through the screen. However, he also plays Folarin with an incredible amount of vulnerability. He deftly and keenly oscillates back and forth between the two modes.
On top of that, Dirisu must display an ability to nurture the young brothers (both on screen and the actors in real life). His quiet strength is what holds the entire film together. And because the film is presented from the perspective of the young brothers, his strength is (rightly) outsized.
You fully get the sense that this father figure is as much myth as he is man – not only for his children, but also for his community. During the adventure through Lagos, Folarin, Remi, and Aki come across a colorful cast of characters; many of whom have an obvious admiration and respect for Folarin.
However, in one brief moment that fully grounds Folarin despite his larger than life persona, the film’s narrative intelligence shines through. While at a restaurant, Remi overhears an interaction between his father and a waitress that highlights that his father is a flawed man, capable of giving into temptation just like the rest of us.
During a Q&A after a screening for the film at the Toronto International Film Festival, director Akinola Davies Jr. and his brother and cowriter, Wale Davis mentioned that the film was all about mining memories for this semi-autobiographical account about their time with their own late father.
Which is abundantly clear when you watch the film. The ghostly and haunting nature of the film’s atmosphere are in line with how it is that we access memories from long ago. The story itself, as well as the characters that inhabit it, are quite ethereal and dream like in their nature.
Davies Jr. and cinematographer Jermaine Canute Edwards extenuate this ethereal atmosphere through a visual language that spends a considerable amount of time focusing on the natural world. It’s not quite the natural lyricism of a Terrence Malick film, but the time taken to look at the surrounding world adds to the film’s spiritual sensibility.
It also offers as a stark clash with the real world backdrop of the film’s narrative. The family’s trip to Lagos is happening during a time of great national turmoil for the state of Nigeria. The country is about to be thrust into uncertainty and violence due the annulment of the 1993 presidential election and subsequent military coup.
Although the boys do not understand the full extent of the ramifications of this event as it’s happening, the effects become personal as they witness it through the prism of their father.
My Father’s Shadow beautifully balances all of these competing ideas and clashing forces. That balance is the film’s chief accomplishment, as well as the core thematic through-line. The result being nothing short of a spectacularly and positively haunting experience.
