Akinola Davies Jr. remembers the Lagos of his childhood as one brimming with cultural abundance in the identical breath that it’s being tamped down. City life, with all its bustle, enterprise dealings, pleasant spars and the scent of wara cheese is met with the power of presidency crackdowns, corruption, and concern. My Father’s Shadow, the filmmaker’s lovely, loosely autobiographical function debut, which premiered on the 2025 Cannes Movie Competition, reignites that confusion and the sandstorm of blended feelings within the context of the Presidential coup of 1993.
For brothers Akinola and Olaremi (real-life siblings Godwin Egbo and Chibuike Marvellous Egbo, respectively), that world is doubly bewildering, as their introduction to town’s native wildness comes due to the sudden reappearance of their father, Folarin (Ṣọpẹ Dìrísù). The eight and eleven-year-old boys are enjoying on their entrance porch, method outdoors metropolis life, the shortage of their lives obvious via break up parts of porridge and decaying door frames, when a sudden gust of wind leads them to Fola, who’s nonchalantly getting dressed and looking for his watch. Is he a ghost?
Probably not, however everybody within the metropolis appears to greet him as such, so lengthy has his absence been. Olaremi is thrilled to be by his father’s aspect, whereas Akinola is a bit skeptical. He has a tough time understanding how somebody who claims to like their children can spend a lot time away, and no protestation that work and cash calls for time will make him perceive. “Mother says God loves me very a lot… does that imply that individuals who love us do not see us very a lot?“
My Father’s Shadow Frames the Domino Impact of Political Corruption Into the Home Area.
A lot of My Father’s Shadow is filmed in patchwork, with Davies Jr. sprinkling into scenes photographs of the road, of bugs, of physique elements, of meals, all of which comes at us in the identical method a baby could also be distracted by sensory overload within the midst of a dialog. For the youngsters, this new time with their absent father is a cosmic reward, but it surely’s a number of data directly. And it is not as if their father is all collectively outfitted to elucidate the complexities of political corruption to youngsters with whom he’s all the time having to reestablish a connection.
Softly, the movie focuses on Fola’s try to get the cash that he is owed at his job, however once they present up, his boss is nowhere to be discovered. Davies Jr. constantly retains us locked within the POV of his two extraordinary baby actors, a alternative which retains us at arm’s size from understanding the depth of Fola’s wants and the main points of his time away. However the narrative, reminiscent of it’s, is mostly a portrait of fast-forwarded maturity, with each children being thrust into understanding issues as advanced as adultery, political coups and monetary solvency.
A lot of the political facet is stored on the margins, with Davies Jr. permitting us solely glimpses of newspaper headlines and snippets of radio debates. Even their father’s political emotions are abstracted. For the youngsters, in fact, what’s extra vital to them is the prolonged time with a mum or dad they hardly ever see, relishing getting meals collectively and swimming within the sea. However the ambiance is palpable with stress because the individuals wait to listen to if the present regime will settle for the victory of the populist MKO.
Eschewing the conventional route of fatherly estrangement, Davies Jr. as an alternative paints a tougher portrait of his would-be father as somebody whose desperation for monetary independence has kneecapped his intention of being a faithful mum or dad. A deceptively advanced movie which marries the tentative hopes and fears of a rustic on the point of a brand new age with the dynamic of a household caught within the internet of monetary shortage, My Father’s Shadow captures a uncommon feeling of heartache, and of affection.