So I read some of my timeline reviews of Donald Glover’s production “Guava Island”. I saw a lot of “what did I just watch?” types of reviews. I admit I am a serious Childish Gambino fan so regardless of the naysayers, this was a must watch on my list.
So, on a 3 1/2 hour plane ride, I made sure this was the first movie I watched. I wouldn’t rate this movie as good or bad. If you are a fan of Gambino, a fan of his show “Atlanta” or you get tickled to see him dancing in “This Is America”, then it’s worth watching. If you haven’t watched any of the above, then I have 7 reasons that I think you should take an hour out of your day to watch “Guava Island” (available on Amazon Prime):
- Guava Island is only 56 minutes in length. So, for less than an hour of your time, why not?
- There is good music for all 56 minutes. I found myself moving in my seat to the music throughout the movie
- Inline with my previous reason, this movie has music that covers all of the African Diaspora, from ancient African drumming to current hip-hop. You hear tunes you recognize from Gambino’s latest stuff but you also get some originals, some Latin vibes and some African vibes.
- So, of course, the expanse of music and then hearing the occasional Spanish spoken in this film had me wondering what island the movie used for filming. I was happy to see in the credits that this movie was filmed in Havana, Cuba. Despite the bad parts of Cuba’s history, having visited the island, there are so many awesome things about Cuba. Not to mention, the culture of Guava Island is very much inline with the rich culture of Havana.
- It’s not super in-depth or preachy, but the movie makes you think a bit about the concepts of sacrifice and freedom. The story follows one person, Deni, and how he is willing to sacrifice his well-being for the betterment of his people. The islanders are forced to work 7 days a week for a company that has a monopoly over all business on Guava Island. The lives of the Guava Islanders are quite similar to Cuba’s actual culture, where one family has control of almost everything and the citizens of the island still don’t have the freedom to decide on much of anything and they certainly can’t leave or even visit away from the island. Imagine that?!?!
- I am a Childish Gambino fan and I have yet to see him in concert. He performs a few of his more recent songs, so I felt like I got a bit of a mini-Childish Gambino concert.
- The final reason you should watch this movie is simply to see Childish Gambino dancing that fun/funny routine from “This is America”. If his dancing gave you a chuckle in the original video, then you will definitely enjoy his antics in Guava Island.
Watch the movie on and let me know what you think!
theUnhingedMOM 