David R. Walker

Archive for the ‘Akinola Davies Jr’ Category

My Father’s Shadow

Director: Akinola Davies Jr

Cast: Sope Dirisu, Godwin Egbo, Chibuke Marvellous Egbo

Running Time: 1 hour and 34 minutes

Film Rating: 7 out of 10

Film Festival: European Film Festival 2026

Language: English

After premiering in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, British Nigerian director Akinola Davies Jr’s impressive debut film My Father’s Shadow is a touching and poignant story of a journey a father takes with his two sons through Lagos, Nigeria in the summer of 1993 on the eve of the announcement that the presidential elections had been nullified resulting in catastrophic political unrest in the country.

What makes My Father’s Shadow unique, is that it is told through the eyes of two young brothers aged 8 and 11, Remi and Akin played respectively by Chibuke Marvellous Egbo and Godwin Egbo.

As the film begins the boys are playing in an impoverished yard with cut out paper action figures, imagining a world of superhero’s and villains. The sudden arrival of their big strong father Folarin expertly played by Sope Dirisu (Mothering Sunday), who decides on a whim to take his sons with him on an arduous journey into downtown Lagos to collect some back pay owed to him.

As Folarin and his sons travel from the Yoruba village into Lagos, their transport is communal, getting rides in taxis with fuel shortages and then with motorbikes until their final arrival in the bustling and vibrant centre of the biggest city in Nigeria.

Remi and Akin are oblivious to the simmering political unrest that is about to occur. The brothers relish the time with their father who visits his work colleague and even eats at a café where he sees his city mistress.

Akinola Davies Jr’s film is filled with foreshadowing images of vultures circling over the city as his camera pans across Lagos encompassing the diversity of religion both Christian and Muslim and also the vibrancy of the city with an authentic African energy.

My Father’s Shadow does employ non-European film techniques whereby every frame is filled with the community and how they relate to each other, avoiding making the individual the focus. However the narrative is slow and the ending of this film will leave viewers pondering whether the journey was imaginary or remembered.

The best scene in the film is on the beach in Lagos when Folarin tells his sons how much he loves them as they recover from swimming in the Atlantic Ocean. It’s a beautifully shot scene which specifically highlights masculine vulnerability and that sometimes tenuous connection between a father and his sons, bordering on honour, humour and hero worship.

A prime example of vital African cinema and made history as the first Nigerian film to be selected for the Cannes Film Festival, My Father’s Shadow is a surreal and significant achievement although the film’s narrative which was co-written with the director’s brother Wale Davies could have been stronger and more specific.

My Father’s Shadow gets a film rating of 7 out of 10 and is enjoyable.  Recommended viewing.