My Father's Shadow: Film Review

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From Mubi:

A semi-autobiographical tale set over the course of a single day in the Nigerian metropolis Lagos during the 1993 Nigerian election crisis. The story follows a father, estranged from his two young sons, as they travel through the massive city while political unrest threatens their journey home.

Review: That One Luther Vandross Song... 

"Back when I was a child / Before life removed all the innocence / My father would lift me high"

- "Dance with My Father," written by Luther Vandross

There are certain songs in Black American culture that have domain over certain community events. “Before I Let Go” by Frankie Beverly and Maze is the ubiquitous cookout song (along with “Candy” by Cameo once it’s line dancing time). “A Song For Mama” by Boyz II Men has been immortalized in innumerable funeral/memorial slideshows. “At Last” by Etta James might be the most popular first dance song of all time (it was my Grandma’s). You’d also be hard pressed to find a Black-run club night without “Back That Azz Up” by Juvenile ft. Lil Wayne and Mannie Fresh on the playlist. 

For weddings, the traditional father-daughter dance is (at least 78% of the time) backed by 2004’s “Dance with My Father” from Luther Vandross’ final studio album of the same name. Vandross (recent Grammy Winner, according to Cher) wrote this song, the lyrics of which bookend this review, as a tribute to his father, who passed away when he was 8 years old. He was awarded Song of the Year at the Grammys that year, and his song forever affected daddy-daughter dances. It also played non-stop through my head as I contemplated Akinola Davies Jr.’s personal and emotional BAFTA-nominated debut feature film, My Father’s Shadow, the Official Submission of the United Kingdom for this year’s Academy Awards. 

Co-written with his brother Wale, Davies Jr.’s film tells the deceptively simple story of a day in the life of a father and his two young boys - June 24, 1993 to be exact, a day that Davies Jr. makes clear changed Nigeria forever. Folarin (played by Ṣọpẹ́ Dirísu, in a stoic, yet loving and vulnerable turn), estranged from his family by his work in Nigerian politics, takes his two sons, Aki and Remi (played by real-life brothers and first-time actors Godwin and Chibuike Marvelous Egbo, respectively), out for a spontaneous day trip and tour of Lagos, Nigeria, his hometown. Over the brisk 94-minute runtime, we see Folarin take his two boys to various places from his childhood, often running into people he knows and either works with or hasn’t seen in ages, maintaining a facade of stability amongst the growing outrage in the city, for it was on this day that the

The heart of this film, though, is Ṣọpẹ́ Dirísu's stunning performance as a father trying to maintain normalcy. The early half of this film feels loose structurally, and it wasn't until the political unrest in Lagos started to become more apparent - and Folarin's conflict, external and internal, becomes more intense - that I felt the film found its footing and became itself. If there is anything that is holds this film together, it's Dirísu (the brothers Egbo perform well as his sons and clearly inject their roles with so much of themselves, but Dirísu is driving the bus). The scene of the film is in the third act when, at the beach, Folarin has a talk with his sons. "Everything is sacrifice. You just have to pray you don’t sacrifice the wrong thing…" There have been few, more sincere portrayals of Black fatherhood in a film this decade than My Father's Shadow - Exhibiting Forgiveness (2024, dir. Titus Kaphar) is the only other that comes to mind.

To this day, I have no idea what any of those conversations entailed. After seeing this film, I thought about every one of them. Every time my father turned his back to discuss something important. Obviously (and thankfully), my father wasn’t involved in anything to the scale of Folarin in the film, but the connection came through. All I know is my older brother and I would occupy ourselves, like Aki and Remi, and when they would finish, and business was handled, and my life was the same, like Aki and Remi. 

My father also loves Luther Vandross, like plays-his-music-to-fall-asleep loves Luther. In so many ways, this film made me think about my relationship with my own father, his with his father, and so on. I can't swear that Akinola Davies Jr and his brother Wale Davies had that one Luther Vandross song in their heads while writing My Father's Shadow, though the final lines of the song and film favor each other immensely, but as I see it, I think this film is their way to dance with their father, again.

"Every night, I fall asleep / And this is all I ever dream"

- "Dance with My Father," written by Luther Vandross